Kamen Rider Ittune: Heavy Metal Henshin Hero
by The Lord Of Pages
Summary: The Decepticon's aren't the only evil robots out there. A Metal Empire made out of hordes of organic-hating robots is coming to Earth, and all because the last survivor of an alien race fled to Earth with their races hope. A belt that grants the power of the Kamen Rider, now Jack Darby has to fight for justice or die trying. With his bike that is also a robot, he just might do it.
1. What's your name! Kamen Rider Ittune!

This story was something I've had as an idea ever since I first discovered this particular series. I've been working on this idea on and off, and it's only recently that I've decided to get around to writing this up.

As before when I was writing my Bloodborne and Rosario+Vampire crossover, still working on that particular rewrite by the way, this is a side project that I'll update in-between the much longer Life is Cosmic, which is my primary focus.

Hope you all can enjoy this story, this one is beta'd as always by my trusty partner in crime The Swordslinger.

For those of you who want to question this particular crossover, I'll point out that this makes a lot of sense when you realize what the primary pairing is and why I decided this crossover was the best way to write it out.

For the unaware, Kamen Rider is a series in the Tokusatsu genre, perhaps the most well-known example. Kamen Rider series tend to involve very similar themes to Transformers on the whole. They both exist to sell toys, they both tend to involve vehicles as a primary feature, and both frequently involve mechanical enemies and an alien focus.

Kamen Riders typically are heroes of justice who utilize belts to transform into armored warriors, typically fighting threats that are highly personal to both the origins of their character and are central to the themes of their respective series.

Now, I've wasted enough time talking, and I want to get into the fun right away.

For reference point, the first chapter takes place about a full month before the official start of the series. I don't want to waste any time, so I'll just skip right to the disclaimers.

I don't own Kamen Rider, Transformers, or any other series I will use in this crossover. They are all owned by their respective owners.

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"Another day at work, another monotonous day lost to the daily grind…" Throwing off his apron and quietly rubbing at a grease covered face, a young man looked at the evening sun slowly lowering over a sleepy town.

With messy black hair, a dark brown t-shirt with a white under-shirt, and blue jeans, the young man looked exhausted. Working day in, day out, at a soul crushing fast food service job was enough to break the spirit of anyone. As a first time job that amounted to suffering ridicule from his school mates, paid jack and squat, and was little more than a full time job that paid part time, Jack Darby felt a little bit more of his soul die every day he did this. He wondered - not for the first time at that - what was the point of working at this dead end job… then remembered it was so he could help support his mother.

"Everything is worth it for mom to not have to work so hard… remember that." Muttering to himself he slowly walked down the streets towards his home, until a whistling noise startled him.

It was a whistling noise that echoed throughout the entire town. A noise like something very fast entering the atmosphere at a speed high enough to make it sound like a missile. He looked up at the sky, his eyes widening as the origin of the noise slammed down brutally into an alleyway a few feet away. A few trash can lids rolled out into the street in front of him, before he heard wet stifled coughing coming from it.

He tried looking around, searching for anyone, anyone at all to investigate the noises instead of him. When it became clear that no one would investigate it but him… He stifled a groan, "God dammit…"

Carefully he made his way into the alley, and found his eyes widening inch by inch at what he saw inside that dark alley. An armor clad being was laid against a wall, one hand gently pressed against a gigantic wound over its side. Said wound looked like it went through its chest, his face set in a horrified grimace as he could see the alley wall through that hole. The armor clad figure had about as alien an appearance as he figured one would have.

It possessed three fingers clad in white gloves covered by the stainless silver armor that covered its entire body, its armor clad upper body extended into chest plates with a glowing blue multi-ringed circle situated in the middle of the armor. Silver gloves covered its three fingers and extended into a flexible looking light grey bodysuit. The suit's open segment ended with bright white-colored truncated shoulder pads, said pads each possessed glowing blue circles that connected to the neck via thin near-invisible tubes.

The helmet was arguably the most complex of the entire body. With a pure silver color, it possessed long angular fins that went behind the back of its head, a single extended spike coming out of its forehead, hiding its features from view was a massive glowing yellow lenses over a pitch black face-plate. The lenses were slowly shrinking in and out, seeming to zoom in, then out of focus. It possessed thin yet durable looking white armor plates over its thighs and over its knee pads, ending at a pair of strange looking silver-colored boots that appeared to be fastened for hooves instead of feet.

Yellowish colored blood poured out onto the ground from that hole, and if he was in a particularly morbid mode he'd think a wise crack that it was good that it wasn't acidic in nature. "Hey… are you okay man? Hey!"

He got closer, trying not to get too grossed out or horrified by the figures shallow breathing, or the fact that it was clearly on its last legs. It turned its helmet clad head to face where his voice came from, silently staring him down before it lolled its head back and continued to breathe in shallowly.

"Denizen of Terra 200B… listen, for this is a choice I give you, not a destiny I'm handing you..."A synthesized voice came from the figure, seeming to originate from a mechanical belt around its waist, the figure holding it with its other hand.

"Hold it together and try to calm down first." He said, trying to be as rational as he could while approaching slowly.

"I have come… from a very long way away… Beyond the furthest star… I am a _…"_ The belt seemed to speak in a heavily accented tone, barely discernable to his ears and being at best mechanical gibbering.

"What…?" he asked.

The figure slapped its thigh tiredly when it realized its explanation wasn't understandable, before it touched the belt again after a brief pause when it figured out what to say, "The closest word for what I am in your species language is Kamen Rider. Masked Rider _…_ "

"Listen, save your strength, you're talking like a crazy cartoon character. I will call for hel-" he was interrupted by the alien.

It leaned back in a form of relief when it was able to tell him what it was, its body exhaling shallowly as more blood leaked out from its wound, "Let me tell you all that I still can. As a Kamen Rider, I was sworn to protect the innocent of the galaxy from an evil threat that came from the Dark Space. This threat hails from the void between stars, where dark planets have existed since before the earliest race decided to travel the astral seas."a pause was wrecked with increasingly shallow coughing, the figure gesturing for him to come closer so it could converse with him.

"Why are you telling me this? I should get you help." He urged the alien, but to no avail, he knew it'd keep talking so he tried to think of something, "Listen, if you don't want to be found out, I can try and take you somewhere you'd think safe, jus-"

Hesitantly, fearfully even, Jack stepped closer to listen to it. His attention enthralled with what it told him, "It does not matter. I am the last of my people, Terran. A race of intergalactic warriors, the Omegan... Heroes to the known universe. With my death, they will all be gone, with only you to remember we existed. Gone to this threat. Yet they are coming for this, this belt, the legacy of my people. Our hope!"

Jack snapped, "It does matter! Say what you will about hope, but don't give up on your life like that!"

It grabbed his arm when he was about to grab the alien and throw the xenomorph on his back to carry the armored extraterrestrial anywhere. Its hand tapped the belt buckle before the entire armor disappeared. A shallowly breathing body, small enough to be his size even was quietly leaned against the wall. It was clearly female whatever it was, as it possessed a slender and angular body clad in a white jumpsuit, with dark purplish skin, and soft features. It had three eyes, each of which were closing one by one, and a touch of cybernetics about its body, one metallic piece was comprised of a syringe attached with a cylinder barely bigger than his thumb slowly injecting a dark green fluid into her neck.

"I truly am regretful but grateful towards you, human. For being forced to ask you for help, for involving you in a way you have no desire to fight in, and for being cared despite being a stranger to you. I truly am sorry. I landed near you, because actions like this are whimsical. You – like many before you – act for the sake of others and are the kind fit for this belt. So it is your choice now, to accept it or reject it!"

Coughing between every word, Jack could tell she didn't have long for this word, and that's why he got closer to her, trying to offer her his company as she passed, "Why are you even doing this? I… I want to choose to help you, not take something from you."

"Human, please listen, for your sake and that of everyone in this world. You must fight this enemy! I, Shadestar, of the Omegan people beg you! Fight them. The Metal Collective… the great enemy! Honor my death… Honor my people! And don't let them steal the belt! Our hope, my people's hope… rests with you now…" She gasped out quietly as he leaned down, holding her in his arms with a shocked silent expression.

She gratefully touched his cheek with her three fingers, a slight smile coming over her strange lipless mouth, barely more than a slit in her face, "I don't even know what to say, I… I just couldn't bare to see people like you hurt, but… are you sure I'm the one that should do this?"

"The belt is yours now human. It is the greatest weapon my race created to fight the Metal Collective… Our last hope. I place it in the hands of a kind soul… You are a Kamen Rider now. So fight! Fight and protect your people. Guard your world… and prevent the fate that has befallen mine. And so many others from happening to Terra. I offer you my prayers and my hopes… Until all are one… may you fight bravely…" She whispered to him, her hand trembling against his cheek before it went limp and fell onto her chest.

Slowly her body begun to melt in his arms, the cylinder having injected the chemical that would erase her presence and prevent it from being used against the galaxy. This chemical ravaged her body, dissolving everything from her flesh to her cybernetics. In front of Jack's very eyes, this proud female alien warrior became so much dust in the wind. He got up slowly, looking at the strange belt she had given him. Shaking his head slowly, he backed away from the bizarre scene, trying to rationalize it in his head.

"Did that really… A dream, this has to be a dream, or I had a bad burger for lunch. It totally must be one…" He tried weakly to rationalize what he saw and what he experienced, he couldn't comprehend what he saw, thus trying to believe it was real took a great effort from him. But the weight of the belt that he now carried, and the fact that it was handed to him by the dying female alien begged to reconsider.

Rationalizing it as a dream didn't work, as the belt felt real. To make sure he even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't sleeping, the pain didn't do much but remind him he was alive and awake, "She gave up her life to protect you? A belt?"

He asked, looking at the strange thing she called a weapon in his hands. It resembled a silver colored metal belt, with a buckle that was a mirror of the helmet, a yellow lens upon a black plate. Strange tubes were attached to the insides of the belt, filled with glowing blue chemicals. Testing their durability, he tried yanking one of the tubes and found it was less movable than hardened concrete.

"Ugh… I need to get home or else mom will get worried. I'll figure out what to do with you there." He grunted, slinging the belt over his shoulder back before he looked up at the skies. An uncertain expression came over his face, as he didn't know what he was looking for. Just a sign of something.

When he was given nothing regarding this sign, he sighed again and made the trek home... If only he had looked behind him again, he'd have seen shooting stars in broad day-light. Hurtling towards the rocks outside of Jasper, Nevada…

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"Alright… So you're an alien belt that can turn me into a… what did she call it? A Kamen Rider. Then…" When he was safe in his room, Jack looked over the belt again, staring at it in interest.

He put it on, and found it locked into place pretty quickly. The buckle literally fastened around his waist like a vice. Standing in front of his bedroom mirror Jack felt very silly as he awkwardly took a stance. His arms crossed in an X, with his feet spread apart, he felt like a total dork standing there with his socks off.

"So… um… belt on!" He tried, only for nothing to happen but a sense of embarrassment to come over him. "Uh… CHANGE BELT!" He tried again, only for that sense of shame to grow. "Ummm… Transform Belt!"

He tried one last time, before he groaned in irritation as he tore the belt off of his waist and tossed it onto his desk. He couldn't believe he had actually believed that woman or that he wasn't dreaming, and if he was honest he didn't think it was real himself. The belt was still real, and it plagued on his thoughts prompting him to try and put it out of mind.

"This is stupid. I'll just play some more of that game I got recently. That GLaDOS is not going to deny me my god damn cake." Grumbling he sat down in front of his computer, turning it on so he could play his game. Getting into it, he found himself occupied by the fascinating Portal gameplay and annoyed by the condescending and heavily psychotic mechanical voice that haunted his exploration through Aperture Science Labs.

"Yeah, screw you too, GLaDOS." He muttered to himself…

Until he heard that same voice reply, "And how would you go about engaging with sexual engagement towards a machine, human? Your kind does have a strange fascination with sexual intercourse and the inner-workings of mechanical life-forms, though."

He whirled around in his chair, his eyes wide as he looked over his room to see where the voice came from. Seeing nothing but his bed, the room around him, the belt on his desk, and his computer, Jack slowly nodded.

"Oookay then. Might be time to turn it in for the night." He said slowly, turning off his computer until that voice spoke again.

"I would recommend against turning in for the night if you value your life, human Jack Darby. Your biological year age is sixteen. Your sexual characteristics and gender are masculine. Your pre-space colonization level species name is Homo sapiens. Your races origin comes from lower evolved simian life-forms. Just so you're aware that I know who and what you are."

The voice continued in that same condescending tone, the same as GlaDOS from his game. He whirled around until he saw the belt's lenses focusing on him, reminding him eerily of that damned crazy AI herself.

"What the hell-" He was cut off when the belt talked to him.

"I would cease all questioning for the moment human Jack Darby. I have detected the unique electronic signature emitted from my former master's great enemy in your quant little town. A Metal Collective Empire agent is already searching for me and means to kill anyone harboring me. That is, you and the biological entity you have called mom."

Shooting his eyes from the belt then outside where he saw a strange figure already approaching his house, the belt interrupted his train of thought, "Before you consider your obvious logical path, namely giving me up would be the best way to save your life and that of your biological parental unit. The Metal Collective Empire wishes nothing less than the complete metallization and mechanization of all organic life across the universe. Earth is in their path already. You have no choice but to fight. As previous user Shadestar advised you. You are now involved in this war and it will not stop until you have killed every last Metal Collective Empire agent and warrior sent after you. Earth is in their crosshairs, and they will stop at nothing to destroy everything you know and love."

"The hell you want from me then?" Jack knew when there was nothing he could say or do to change this situation, and so he angrily stepped forward only for the belt to tell him plainly, "Put me on. And say these words. Henshin. It means, as close to your nearest Omegankatsu equivalent - that is the language of my former master - word can translate, transform. I have downloaded and assimilated the personality and data from your computerized entertainment simulation, to present to you a recognizable and understandable identity."

Explaining all of this to him made his head ache, but Jack took it in stride as he placed the belt on his waist, the AI for lack of a better word securing it onto his body by tightening around his waist.

"What should I call you then? Ms. Belt?" he asked it sarcastically, only for it to answer him immediately, "Illdos. Said like the phrase, ill dose. I am Illdos, your partner now Jack Darby. We don't have much time, so announce the words henshin, and we will engage the threat outside."

Taking the stance he had made earlier, his arms held out in front of his body in the shape of an X, Jack threw his arms out wide and announced aloud, "Henshin!"

A flash of silver light engulfed him, as inch by inch his clothes were contained in a pure grey body suit, flowing all the way up to his neck and ending just below his head. Silver plates flew out of the belt and rotated around him, blue arcs of light shooting out from his arms, legs, chest, and neck and zapping the plates.

Silver gloves connected to his hands, three fingers splitting into five for his digits as Illdos adjusted the biological specifications of the belt for Jack's personal body. His hands were sealed tight into these gloves, shoulder pads flying out and snapping onto his arms, extending out for his wider shoulders.

Silver armor flew out and snapped onto his chest, spreading widely into a form fitting metal armor clad plate that form-fit his entire upper chest. Yellow rings extended from the pectoral plates and connected to a point just over his heart, forming into a pitch black pit with a single yellow lenses inside.

Lifting his leg up one at a time, he stepped into silver colored boots with dark soles, blue lines shooting up from them and connecting to the thigh plates and kneepads over his legs.

Two spikes jutted out from each knee-pad, with tubes connecting from the back of his legs to his tendons, going flat against his body as he felt a strange cool feeling engulf his entire body. His mind felt less sleepy and much more alert, his thoughts clearing up instantly.

Extending from the back of his head came silvery white plates, forming into a bright white helmet that had two short spikes angled from the back of his head, and a single fin over the top of his head that connected to the shorter spikes with thin tubes that like the ones on his legs went flat. A black plate sealed his face from view by sliding from the top of the helmet down to his face, and inside of the helmet he gaped as he saw advanced read outs appear in front of his eyes.

Data scrolling by detailed the structural layout and the makeup of his room, the exact time zone he was in, the time of day and date, data on his biological functions from the fact that he was in perfect health and in the green, to his brain wave patterns. The room itself was lit up and appeared to be as bright as day to him, two yellow lenses with compound eyes appearing over the face-plate, shrinking and zooming in in accordance to his eye movements.

"What the?! Holy shit! Is this my room?! Is this my body?! Am I in freakin' power armor?!"He asked in shock, a synthesized under tone accompanying his voice as he looked at his hands in awe, clenching them tightly in and out.

"Jack. We have to move now. The Metal Collective Empire agent has sensed us. If you don't want your house to be leveled, I would recommend immediately, as in the next second immediately, jumping out your window and engaging." His lenses zoomed forward as he saw the figure, a metallic looking featureless robot with a single massive lenses for a head, cannons for arms, and a spindly skeleton like body already looking at his body.

"This! IS GONNA… Wait what? That was easy."Bracing himself for a painful fall, Jack ran forward and leaped head first through his window, when he hit the ground he went into a roll, and surprisingly leaped right onto his feet with no pain at all. The armor hadn't just braced him against the impact, it had all but negated it.

"Your biological functions and physical traits are heighted by a factor of a hundred. You possess the upper body strength capable of moving five point seven tons, and the lower body strength capable of moving ten point six. You can now move faster than thirty nine miles on the ground when running, forty two when sprinting. Your durability allows you to take blows that would make a car crusher appear like a spring breeze. As a Kamen Rider you are in one of the most technologically advanced combat suits in the entire galaxy. You can even engage in outer orbital combat or combat under extreme aquatic depth levels. More features will be explained as they are deemed necessary."

Illdos explained to him calmly, rattling off his abilities and traits with the practiced mechanical precision of a doctor telling him what he was sick with and how long it'd take to heal. Taking it in stride, Jack stepped towards the silent looking machine in front of him, as it walked towards him he could see a red glow appearing in each of its cannon arms.

"Be careful Jack. This was the same agent who killed my former master. It is the shock troop of the great enemy's ranks. The Chrome Enforcers _."_ Chuckling despite himself, Jack replied to his AI as he calmly rolled his shoulders and arms back, the chemicals being injected into his body making him much more confident and less anxious, "Sounds too scary for these guys, I'll call these guys… Chromedomes. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Plus, Metal Collective Empire? Too many words in that name. Let me think. I'll call 'em… Metalheads. Yeah, I'll just name them that."

Illdos took a few moments to analyze his words before it acknowledged them, "Name changes in personal databank archive deemed acceptable. Chrome Enforcers will be titled Chromedomes from now on. The Metal Collective Empire are now called the Metalheads. Proceed with caution Jack and do not hesitate to strike with lethal force."

"Noted. You got any weapons or tools so I don't just hit this guy with my bare fists _?"_ Jack asked his belt, stepping forward and putting his fists into a loose guard.

He didn't fight much, and he didn't have the time to learn with a job, but he guessed if he survived this fight he'd have to learn.

"Not currently available. That information isn't authorized for you yet to possess."Came his belt's snappy reply, making him groan to himself, "And risking my life doesn't make me authorized? Whatever. C'mon then, Chromedome!"

His challenge was answered by the Chromedome agent holding both cannon arm ups, blasts of red mazer light hurtling past him as the Kamen Rider ducked and rolled.

Springing up into a jump, he caught the mazer lights exploding a nearby car, bits of molten metal and burnt rubber flying behind him, thinking to himself, ' _That cars owner is going to go ballistic if he doesn't have insurance.'_

"Jack, the Chromedome's Mk. III Lethal Injection Mazer cannons can and will punch a hole through the suit if you let them get a direct hit. That was how this particular agent killed my former user. Extreme caution is advised." Jack gave his belt a nod as he ran forward, launching into a flying kick that sent him and the Chromedome flying back, his fists pointing both its cannons down as they exploded the ground below them.

Launching him over head, the Chromedome onto its back, and his body rolling across a car and onto his knees from the explosive force.

" _..._ Duly noted. Avoid the freakin' cannons."He snarked back at the belt as he got up and took his loose stance again.

The Chromedome silently stood up, facing him with both cannons charged up and pointed at his body.

"Anything to say or are you going for the whole Terminator angle?" Jack sarcastically asked the Metalhead, who answered his question with a salvo of laser blasts.

With the mazer shots lighting up the night, Jack found himself forced to dodge rapidly. The Chromedome kept on advancing as it relentlessly unloaded into the air he was occupying.

"Jack, you can't dodge forever. You must go onto the offensive, the Chromedome has an I-N Class power reactor, which means as long as it remains operational its weapons will never run out of ammo." With Illdos reminding him he was on the clock, Jack ran straight at the Metalhead agent.

"TAKE THIS!" He announced his move with a text box jab, brutally knocking the Metalhead back, its lenses like head shuddering as cracks appeared over it. It aimed right at him again and fired a stream of continuous laser beams, trying rather than attempting to hit him with scattered shots, to fry him with pure power.

He rushed it down, grabbing its cannons and pointing them at the ground again, his knee rising up to ram its surface into the Chromedome's upper body.

He kept on hammering it, making the machine stumble back until he kicked it in the chest with all of his might. Falling onto his back due to the force he used, he was surprised when the Metal head stumbled back. A huge hole in its upper body sparking wildly before it exploded into a burst of scrap metal.

Holding his arms in front of his face, he blocked the majority of the shards, until it was done exploding.

Catching one shard in his fist, Jack gaped at it as it melted into a liquid stream, the silvery fluid disappearing onto the ground with a wet hiss.

"The Metalhead's greatest stealth advantage when first sending in agents. Their bodies are made out of solidified liquid metal, and when it suffers a catastrophic system failure such as this particular agent, they will dissolve into their natural state. Keeping all evidence of their presence on unaware planets to a bare minimum." Illdos explained to him what he had just witnessed, Jack face-palming silently.

"So if I tried to prove they existed, they'd just lock me up. And probably take you away to boot." He stated rhetorically, groaning even more now when Illdos' silent answer affirmed what he knew.

"Great, I can't even explain to anyone what I'm going to no doubt be doing with my spare time for quite a while…" He yawned, feeling the exhaustion of the battle wash over him as Illdos powered down, his suit disappearing in a flash of grey light. He walked back into his house, rubbing his eyes quietly as he looked at the scene of the battle.

If one wasn't looking for the battle damage, it'd appear as if it was just a scene of an ordinary accident. The holes in the ground could be explained away as wear and tear or a sink hole opening up, the wreckage of the car a wreck, and due to the lack of evidence it was clear no one would be able to pin anything on anyone.

Due to the extremely late hour and the fact that that the streets were empty this time of night, he was able to get to bed with no major incident.

Placing Illdos on his bed side table, Jack fell into a dreamless yet fitful sleep.

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When he woke up the next morning, he was shocked to see the belt was gone, when he looked around feverishly for it, he was surprised by a beeping noise at the edge of his table. He got up, looking even more amazed by the fact that he had a pure white state of the art I-phone, things that he had heard Raf say were only available to people with a lot of money or who personally knew those who worked for the company that produced them.

Picking it up, he found a yellow lenses looking up at him, Illdos' mechanical voice annoying him with its condescending tone, "I have analyzed and looked at the data stored upon the primitive cybernetic network you humans use for information transfer, and have taken a form that I considered to be very easy to transport and hid as. I will create the belt when it is necessary, and you may fit me into the slot that will have opened up."

"And I'm supposed to explain to my mom that I just found you or got you as a gift? She'll never believe me." Jack pointed out, only for Illdos to blink at him in a manner that he was sure made it apparent that she thought he was an idiot, making him turn around with a sigh that got off when he saw full on paper documentation laying on the table. It had been printed out of the printer his mom let him use for personal school work, and it showed he had won an actual event to be able to one of the first to own an I-phone.

"…You have an answer to everything, don't you?" He asked her with a sarcastic tone, making Illdos snark right back, "I possess the sum total of an entire species collective historical, cultural, military, and social knowledge among one of the minor traits of my CPU. I am more advanced than a thousand of your best super computers combined fifty times over. I am the greatest weapon ever created by an entire race, and possess the full potential that allows me. So yes Jack, I do have an answer for everything. You will be authorized to know information when it is deemed suitable for your awareness."

"Riiiight." He sarcastically muttered as he got up and proceeded to get dressed.

His day went about as well as he could hope for. Everything up until he got to school and classes started.

' _God does it ever end?'_ Jack was never a top student, he was fairly upper grade, he got A's on subjects he was good at, B's on classes he was average at. So he didn't exactly have problems with learning, his mom would murder him if he didn't try to do well though, so he put his all into the subjects that he was interested in.

But if there was one class that absolutely bored him and all the rest of the students, it was the utterly dry American History.

He knew it was interesting, he owned at least one or two books that showed how fascinating the civil war was and he loved reading up on World War 2. But the teacher who taught his class was an utterly boring one who droned on and on endlessly.

This was the class that if he was honest he probably slept the most during. And he found his eyes drooping slowly as exhaustion washed over him, down, down, down…

"Jack. A Metalhead agent is going to attack you very soon. Currently approaching the street twenty feet away." Illdos woke him up, his eyes snapping wide open at that news, due to the fact that she was capable of adjusting her volume at whim, she was so soft only he could hear her.

His attention and body snapped straight up, and he slowly turned his head as inconspicuously as he could, to stare outside and see what was approaching the building.

A humanoid figure wearing a dirty brown trench coat, probably grabbed from a garbage bin or thrown away clothes that were given to charity was looking right up at him silently. It dropped its coat in broad day light revealing it to be a Chromedome that had modified its cannons into one massive blaster, making him gape at its open hostility until it took aim at him.

"LOOK OUT!" His shout made the entire class look around to face him in confusion, anger, and irritation until he rolled underneath his desk.

He saw Sierra, his crush look at him like he was a complete lunatic. The attractive red head was someone even he got tongue tied around. And her eyes were full of scorn and anger that he disrupted the class, not because it wasn't boring, but because she was trying to learn from her book.

Vince, an antagonist and local jock with red head was about to laugh at him, that sure as hell made his blood boil. But he'd have the last laugh, hopefully.

Miko, an energetic Japanese girl who he admitted he never paid much attention to was the only one actually somewhat happy for the lull in the extremely boring class. That girl seriously weirded him out and he didn't need that kind of craziness in his life, past, present, or future.

Rafael possibly one of his few legitimate friends was the only one who had the intelligence to look at what Jack had been looking at, namely the windows outside. He looked at Jack slowly who nodded at him once, and the very young yet intelligent man got up and slowly walked out of the classroom first.

The teacher quite dryly asked him, even as Jack was curling up into a ball with his arms over his face, "Is there a problem Mr. Darby?"

"Yeah… You might want to get out now." Jack told the teacher, and the class by association as he pulled his shirt over his hair.

Just as the teacher was about to ask what he meant by that remark, the windows exploded when red light hit the side of the building. In a massive rumble that made the entire room shake, the windows shattered in a furious hail of glass shards. The classroom exploded into panic immediately along with the teacher who didn't even make an attempt to control the chaos, Jack hiding underneath his desk as more shots rocked the building, making chunks of it fall off.

Jack saw each of his classmates run out of the room in utter terror, one by one they panicked to get out. It was absolute pandemonium, and he was caught in the middle of it as shots continuously fired against the building while he crawled underneath the desks to the teacher's desk, which was at the back of the room and thus furthest away from the windows. He had to make sure he wasn't hit or stepped on in the rush, but he was able to make it and lay against the desk, holding Illdos in his grip, so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"This is freakin' crazy…" He muttered to himself, his heart beat pounding as rapidly as the cannon shots that struck the building endlessly.

Poking his head out of cover, he saw that the entire window side of the building was now blasted clean apart, leaving only a massive hole in place for the Chromedome to enter through. The classroom was long abandoned, in the panic no one had noticed he wasn't in the crowd. One of the few times he was grateful that a panic mob didn't have any thought to pay a lone straggler.

"Illdos, let's do it." He got up slowly, watching the Chromedome leap up onto the classroom floor.

"Affirmative Jack." Slowly lowering Illdos to his waist, the belt materialized when her yellow lenses glowed, having been reduced to cyber-data for storage, he clicked her onto the open slot that as she had told him earlier had opened up.

Holding out both arms into an X, then throwing them out, he yelled out, "HENSHIN!" Kamen Rider Ittune ran forward, shoulder checking the Chromedome through the gaping hole in the wall and out onto the school grounds which was thankfully cleared as students were inside when the attack began.

"Not on my watch Metalhead!"

He yelled out before they both hit the ground, he was on top of the murderous machine and thanks to the fact that it had designed itself for long range combat, he was able to wail on its head lenses repeatedly. Each punch made its lenses crack, until it suddenly rammed its cannon into his body to knock him off, splitting it apart into two halves which it held out in front of its body like a shield.

"Well, this won't be as easy as I had hoped…" Jack said as he held up his fists, the Kamen Rider looking wary as the Metalhead agent's lenses zoomed on his helmet several times.

It made the first move, rushing forward and using both of its arm-shields to bash him, hitting him hard enough to rattle him suit or no. Ending its combo with a single kick to his chest, its strength was so great it launched him back and into a tree, making it snap in half.

Wood fragments and leaves scattered onto his body, making the Kamen Rider groan painfully, "Alright, Illdos, plan of attack?" He asked his belt, making her grow silent for several seconds while he got up slowly.

"You have to nullify its arms, this Chromedome agent has superior close combat techniques and weaponry, you will need a weapon... Seeking approval for torch-knife… Approval granted." Illdos said, making Jack's eyes widen behind his mask, a read out popping up in the corner of his vision, saying that the 'Touch-torch illumination-incendiary knife was approved.'

"Why do I need approval to kick some bad guy's ass when he's about to kill my ass?" he asked, but his belt ignored his question.

"Hold out your hand, extend it to your chest, and withdraw the knife from its cyber-storage. The knowledge regarding the use of the torch-knife will be filtered safely into your brain via the neural link we share. This is why I have to approve of giving you weapons Jack, you have to be ready to be able to use them or else the damage done to your mental state will be unpleasant." Illdos said, making Jack nod behind his mask.

"One thing Illdos, don't call me by my first name when we're on the clock in public." He said, circling the Chromedome as it did the same to him.

"What should I call you then?" Her sarcastic question made Jack think for several seconds, before he grinned.

"Call me… Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider Ittune." Illdos was silent for several seconds, seeming to process his name before she acknowledged it.

"Name accepted. Kamen Rider Ittune, we should begin very soon. It's planning to attack again." Jack nodded, before he reached towards his chest, a blue glow illuminating his hand before he withdraw the torch-knife from where it was stored in cyber space.

It was a simple weapon, built for a clear purpose, namely offense as well as utility. The torch-knife was comprised of an extended oblong handle, with a burning red hot and strangely curved blade extending out of its surface, with a flick of his wrist the knife slide into the inside of the handle. Allowing him to wave it around, a strong light shot out of the slit-like opening that was left, illuminating an area in front of him.

By holding it focused on something, he could eventually burn through it, the ground he had pointed at it namely was smoking slowly, which necessitated him to flick his handle back and extend the blade once more.

"Alright, game on." Kamen Rider Ittune said, as the knowledge on how to use the knife thankfully gave him the basics of Omegen blade training as well, the rest he'd need to learn himself. He calmly took a unique looking stance, blade held facing to the side with one hand propping his other fist up.

The Chromedome ran towards him, while he just stood there, waiting until it came close. Then with a rapid movement, he ducked and swung his blade out quickly, carving up the side of the enemy robot and leaving a ruptured hull in its wake. Kamen Rider Ittune slowly sheathed the knife back into cyber-storage, the Chromedome Agent collapsed to its knees before it exploded into metal fragments. Each shard hit the ground, then slowly melted away as he walked away from the battle site.

"Illdos, we need to find a set of wheels. Can't keep hoofing it on foot all the damn time." About an hour later, after he had successfully gotten home when the school was closed for repairs, he was standing in his room.

Looking normal while holding a kitchen knife he had "borrowed" he moved alongside a holographic teacher. A copy of Shadestar in her version of the suit, who moved seamlessly from stance to stance with her knife, his mom was still at work, which was why he practiced at the moment. Each stance flowed into another, moving his knife in ways he never dreamed he'd be able to. When he finally paused in his training, it was getting close to evening time, and he was drenched in sweat. Illdos lenses clicked shut, and the hologram bowed to Jack.

He bowed back, his fist pushed against his open palm in a mirror of his teacher. He quietly thanked the hologram before her image disappeared once more, collapsing onto his bed, Jack groaned tiredly as he looked up at his ceiling.

"Life's going to get harder and harder from here on out, isn't it Illdos? I'm never going to be able to relax with those damn things prowling around…" He asked his belt with a rhetorical tone, his eyes closing shut in exhaustion while he heard her reply as one of the last things his brain could process before he passed out.

"I'm afraid not Jack… And I apologize for that…" Her tone was one of genuine remorse, which was why he was able to turn around and tell her, even as sleep begun to engulf his mind.

"Don't worry Illdos, I volunteered for this war. It's my promise to you and Shadestar, as well as the Omegan people who are gone… that I'll beat the Metalheads and save my planet. And save future planets from their evil."

Her silence told him of the fact that his words had an impact on the belt. And with that he was able to sleep peacefully for the most part.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Welcome to K.O Burger, can I take your order?" Jack asked with a bland and even dry look upon his face.

It had already been a week onto the unofficial spring break, and he had let his guard drop when no Metalhead agent attacked him or anywhere he was at. Illdos had warned him about this, and he was starting to get a tingling sensation at the back of his neck. A sense that today something would happen. He hadn't had these feelings until now, and he was starting to realize what it was as the day wore on and he felt his tension increase. He was even starting to tap his fingers, a sense of anxiety filling his body, something was going to happen. It would come soon, and even as he took an order from a costumer, his body grew as taut as a tense wire.

"Welcome to K.O Burger, how can I take your order?" He was really starting to loath this job, it was mind-numbing enough with the humiliation it brought to work in fast food service, but it was even more aggravating today as he felt tense the entire day. He needed to take a break, work out, practice a kata, his body needed to release energy in any way it could.

"C'mon you Metalhead jerk, just come on… I'm right here… I'm right… Here!" He muttered to himself, his expression increasingly tense until a female voice startled him to the point of making him furious.

"Hey can I or-" He slammed his hands down on the counter, interrupting the speaker.

"I'm sorry, but I'm taking my break right now, someone else will take your order." He turned to one of his co-workers, calling out to them as he took off his hat and apron, his finger twitched briefly as his nerves were at an all-time high. "Hey can you fill in for me for at least five minutes? Sorry, I'm just a little anxious today. Mom brought her work home, so I'm a little disturbed by what I saw in the ER ward last night."

With his quite believable excuse made and ready just in case of this sort of situation happening, he was able to walk out and sit down near a table. Breathing in and exhaling with his finger-tips pressed against each other, he calmed his nerves in the way that Shadestar had taught him via his martial arts lessons every time his mom left for work and he got back from his.

"Rei. Ichi. Ni. San. Yon."

He took five breaths starting from zero, then repeated the meditative mantra with each exhale, a form of battle meditation that left him fully aware of everything around him while keeping him in a state of calm. Repeating the words like a chant he could feel everything around him while he sat at his table, his senses were growing stronger with every day that passed. That was why when he heard the screams, he was ready and moving.

A Metalhead had busted down the doors of K.O Burger, striding into the shocked room before it threw off its long duster coat and hat. The Chromedome held out both of its arms, spindly metallic needles that it flipped to the side, turning them into extremely flat blades. Everyone who watched was shocked and horrified by this machine popping in, even more so when it sliced apart the thrown tray Jack had snagged from a passerby and tossed at it.

A shredded rain of plastic, food chunks, and red ketchup landed on the floor as the Chromedome mechanically tilted its head at Jack, an expression of emotion only allowed to the agents that had survived long enough to gain slight awareness beyond their programming. When it was clear he was waiting for it to move first, the Metalhead seemed almost disappointed before it came for him instead.

It didn't so much as glide across the floor as it flowed, its feet barely touching the ground as it made a beeline straight towards his table, dodging its first strike that sliced the table clean in half, he rolled back with that dodge and kicked the Metalhead in the chest, making it stumble back even as people ran out in terror. His own co-workers abandoned him to this thing, which suited Jack just fine as he didn't need the distraction or the attention.

"Jack, be wary. This one has upgraded itself into a close combat specialist. Those blades are Hyperion Steel class, which means they could carve your name into a diamond's surface." His belt materialized around his waist as he slid Illdos into the slot open for her, his expression one of intense concentration.

"Yeah, I sort of figured that thing is really nasty thanks Illdos." He thanked her sarcastically, prompting her to respond with just as much dryness.

"Then you might like to know that you've been approved for the muse-wave sonic blaster."

"Sweet." Came his reply as he clicked her onto his belt, forming his arms into an X before throwing them out, "HENSHIN!"

"Stay on your guard."

"Same procedure as drawing out the torch-knife?" He asked her, holding out his hand to his chest until she corrected him.

"Incorrect. Hold your hand at your hip instead, and move it as if you were pulling out a gun from a holster."

"Old west style?" He had to ask her with mild bemusement, but her silence reminded him he was on the job and that he had a killer-robot alien to fight.

He did as she said, reaching for his side in a manner similar to a cowboy drawing out their gun, green light extended down his arm as he pulled out a large and very unique looking gun.

It possessed a pair of cymbal-like attachments on either side of the barrel, which itself resembled a musical note turned on its side, with the grip of the gun being much shorter than the barrel itself, extending over the top was the curved part of the musical notes top, granting it an alien iron-sight. As the knowledge of how to use the weapon filled his mind, Jack yanked down the rounded handle, seeming to pull it down until it was much longer than the barrel now.

He hit it back up, making the cymbals clang rapidly, slowly aiming it at the Chromedome who was already running straight towards him, its blades held out and to the sides. It jumped high into the air, whirling into a blade dive that would've perforated him like philli-cheese steak.

Right before a sonic bubble hit it, the windows cracked and then shattered, shards of glass flying everywhere as the Chromedome was launched ass over teakettle. Rolling to a stop outside, the Metalhead shakily rose up, only to get shot again and again by Kamen Rider Ittune.

Walking slowly towards it, each sonic bullet made more glass shatter around the Rider, cars shaking as he turned up the volume by twisting the handle, waves of sonic force emitting from the muse-wave blaster. The Rider seemed immune to the cacophony, even as the Chromedome kept on wiggling in agonizing pain.

Each shot further made ripples appear in the ground, craters forming from the force of the bullets until cracks spider-webbed out from the point of impact.

He kept on unloading sonic bullets into it, the ground cratering repeatedly as he silently advanced towards the Chromedome. He aimed down mercilessly upon its long limp form, then pulled the trigger at point-blank. Making it shatter and explode into fragments that flew everywhere.

He holstered the gun back into cyber-storage, looking down on the fragments as they melted away.

With his fight done, he continued to walk away from the long dead agent. Later that day he resigned from work, as he had realized what Illdos had attempted to warn him about.

"I can't have a normal life as long as these damn things keep on attacking everyone and everything around me, just to lay a hand on you." He said to his belt, even as he moved alongside the holographic projection of Shadestar, his body moving into an awkward and stiff kata.

"That is correct Jack. This war will claim much from you. But you have to fight, or else everyone in this world is lost. I… am sorry." Illdos apologized to him, making him chuckle even as he moved into a new kata, finding it easier with every time he was corrected by Shadestar's hologram.

"It's fine Illdos, I chose to fight, and I won't stop until all of them are defeated. This is my town and my planet, I'm going to protect them both. You as well." He promised the belt, making her go silent in contemplative thought.

"Then, let's fight for as long as we have to, partner." She told him, making him grin at the belt.

"That's the spirit Illdos."

He practiced long into the night, eventually going to bed when he was more than tired out.

His dreams were as always fitful, but he slept well enough and was more than ready to continue training the next day, then the next week, and the week after that…

Kamen Rider Ittune would become an urban legend in the sleepy town of Jasper, Nevada: He became known as a masked hero who fought evil robots that attempted to harm the innocent, and before long the government took notice of him… Along with other more powerful forces.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

One month later…

A slightly overweight black man, wearing a fine government suit, clicked on a remote. Ending a video camera recording of Kamen Rider Ittune fighting three different Chromedome agents at once, and defeating all of them in record time.

"As you can see Prime, this guy is not one of ours. There are multiple generals all accusing each other of backroom projects, military cover-ups, investigations into said cover-ups, and even things above my paygrade like that ZECT organization in Japan." The man, name of Agent Fowler, explained to a gigantic metallic figure.

Colored red upon its very bulky torso that noticeably had what appeared to be a truck's front end poking out with the front mirrors forming pictorial armor, the robot was imposing and serious. Its upper torso was made much more muscular with large arms ending at silvery fists, as for its legs, they were blue with wheels upon the backs, and metallic feet that appeared almost shoe like.

Its head was where its identity as a masculine robot was made clear, with stern metallic features, and blue eyes that seemed to whir and zoom with every thought.

Then the robot spoke, and his voice was a serious and quite gravelly tone that rumbled through the room and gave it a sense of purpose, "And you think, that he might be aligned to the Autobots Agent Fowler? We would know if we had such small allies on our side. His fighting style reminds me of a species I have not read about in thousands of years…"

Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots went silent as he reviewed what he had seen and witnessed in that video, "Omeganhi." He spoke, seeming to look confused by the fighting style.

"It was a style I have not seen for many centuries… Omegan Fire Heroes. They were known as some of the greatest warriors in the universe, noteworthy even for Cybetron. They were brave, fearless, and heroic fighters. That style he used was for the soldier class of the Fire Heroes, observe." He said as Fowler turned the video back on, and Optimus pointed to each frame when Fowler paused.

"His body is in constant aggressive motion. Every blow meant to inflict as much damage as possible in as short a time as needed." He said as the Kamen Rider first punched a Chromedome in its lenses, snapping his fist back like a whip before he slammed two more blows into its chest, shattering its core.

"He moves to the next target, quickly and like a flame. Burning bright with passion and an instinct to defeat his evil foes." Optimus pointed out, showing how the Rider whirled on his heel, his leg piercing the second Chromedome through its upper body, kicking it up and off its entire frame.

"And then he wipes away the foe, leaving silently and without a word. It was the hallmark of the Omegan Fire Heroes, to defeat evil quickly and mercilessly, to protect the innocent without a word and always fight for their sake." He concluded his observation as the Rider stabbed a knife fused with a flash light into the final Chromedome's lenses, ripping it out and silently leaving as a small crowd cheered his name.

"Well-spoken Optimus, but what does it all mean?! Who is this guy? Is he an alien then? If he uses an alien martial arts style and has adopted their personalities, then he can't be human underneath all that armor." Fowler was less that amused by Optimus flowery-dialogue and he confronted the leader angrily.

"I do not know. The Omegan people were warriors who traveled the stars, seeking evil and battling them to their last. They created many powerful weapons and relics specifically to fight evil in all its forms. If this… Kamen Rider, has access to their tools and equipment, then at the very least he has a connection in some way to them." Optimus explained, making Fowler more thoughtful now, "I will send out one of my own to ask this Kamen Rider to meet with us. So that they may explain their goals and their enemy to us. These robots… They are a threat I have never seen before, and they bear a hostility that defies rationality towards innocent life."

"Who are you going to send as an 'ambassador' to a guy in an armored suit who punches metal robots in half? Lest you forget Optimus, you and the other Autobots are also robots." Fowler pointed out gruffly, making Optimus grow silent, "One who has lost a partner once more. She needs someone who can help her heal from her pain, and perhaps fight alongside her in battle…"

He held up his hand, lifting it towards the antennae like spikes that went up along the sides of his head, "Opening a com-channel…Arcee. What is your position?"

His words rumbled throughout the room, before he heard someone talk to him, a female voice that was full of anger and pure frustration, a marked sign of fresh loss if there ever was any, "What is it Optimus? I'm kind of busy right now."

"I have a mission for you Arcee. One that is of grave importance. Where are you?" His words brokered no argument, and it was with an irritable huff that the female voice responded to his query, "Outside the human town you told me to watch over. The same boring place full of stupid noisy excitable organics as it was the last time I passed by here. Same short-lived wastes of our time that they were before."

"Then proceed until you find someone. An armored figure who is fighting a foe not dissimilar to the Decepticon's themselves. The people of the town call him, Kamen Rider Ittune. I want you to bring him here to the base, he might prove a potent ally in the fight against the evil Decepticon's." Optimus told the female speaker, who went silent for a few seconds.

"I think I might have a problem with that…I've got the twins on my tailpipe. I'll have to take a raincheck on this 'assignment' until I can shake them. Then I'll see about meeting this…Kamen Rider or whatever you want me to waste energon finding." She went silent after that, prompting Optimus to look at Agent Fowler who had a look of annoyance about her tone and the obvious contempt she had for humans.

"…She is still grieving." He said by way of an apology, Fowler giving him a glare in response.

Optimus quietly let loose a sigh, shaking his head quietly. It was never easy burying another comrade, and they couldn't even give Cliffjumper the sendoff one of their own deserved. They hadn't been able to recover the body, and it was for that reason that Arcee was partially so furious. She had no one to blame but the Decepticons. And that lack of knowing who killed Cliffjumper or why, was what really enraged her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Following her talk, really more what one would call an angry acceptance with her esteemed leader, Arcee was driving rapidly down the streets of Jasper. Trying her best to shake two pitch black cars that had purple coloration about them, as well as a grill that was comprised of the Decepticon logo, the sleek blue motorcycle was cursing in every tongue she knew mentally that this was happening so soon.

Angry and frustrated beyond belief, she was surprised when she saw the object of Optimus' orders already in front of her. And fighting an opponent that had all three of the Cybertonians in disguise stop briefly. All three were shocked beyond measure at what they were seeing.

It was a gigantic robot, roughly the size of Optimus Prime himself, colored a gun metal grey with only three pairs of red rings over its arms as coloration. Each arm ended with a massive hammer shaped weapon, while two even bigger cannons were mounted upon its shoulders. The heavily armed and armored form of the robot itself made it clear that it was a behemoth in battle. Its head was little more than a flat rounded groove, with a single optic sensor lodged in a pit inside of this gravity. Its colossal body was bulky and yet low to the ground, with legs that were not so much pillar like as tread-like. It had its entire body set upon massive treads that each appeared the size of the cars around them, stacked onto each other.

"Kamen Rider Ittune, extreme caution is recommended. The Rhodes Legion of Metalheads are extremely powerful fortress-breaker class foes! They can destroy entire cities with a single barrage of their Maria-Buster cannons…That is why, the approval of vibro-shock knuckle dusters and anti-grav rocket thrusters are authorized. To utilize, punch your fists together two times after clenching them, and stomp your legs out three times in rapid succession." To the three watching, the figure paused before it rose both fists into the air in excitement.

"Oh yeah…! Also I'm gonna call these things… Giganto Metalheads." He chortled aloud while Illdos adjusted her databank files for the name change, each punch made the air vibrate until he pulled his fists out, two massive knuckle dusters appearing over both arms. They resembled a pair of wrecking balls, cut in half, with a steel bar placed in between both halves. The Rider gripped them by these bars, which sealed his fists inside the spheres.

Stomping his feet several times, prompted a pair of rockets to sprout out from either side of his legs, purple flames shot him far into the air, making him whirl around rapidly to the sound of a jet engine!  
"WOOOOOOOHAAAAYEAH!" Jack could only scream in excitement, his face set into a wild grin as he dropped down, his body flying side to side as the Giganto Metalhead fired immense red shots from its cannons.

"SHOCK!" He slammed his right fist into its optic sensor, a wave of force rippling out and causing the ground to crater massively, "DROP!" He slammed his other fist into its upper body, causing a hole to blast out from inside of it, letting the three vehicles behind it visibly see the Rider lift both hands up. "AND ROLL!" He dropped them in a hammer blow that shattered the entire robot into nothing more than fragments, an explosion of force heralded the entire robot disappearing into so much dust.

Dropping to his feet, he rolled both shoulders around then threw them up into the air in front of the vehicles who he thought were just bystanders.

"AM I FREAKIN' AWESOME OR WHAT!? WHOOOO! What a rush! Illdos, seriously! That was sweet!" He was more than excited at his victory, not just the rush he got from the fight he had.

He stopped when Illdos remained silent, his yellow lenses zooming into the three vehicles he saw looking at him.

"…What am I looking at partner?" he asked his belt, his readout showing abnormal wave signatures from the three vehicles, and a lack of heat from the 'rider' on board the motorcycle.

"Cycling through data-files. Proceed with caution in the meantime Jack." Illdos told him quietly, making him roll his shoulders around slowly, stepping towards the three 'vehicles'.

"Alright you chucklenuts, be you Metal Collective Empire, or whatever…I'm not going to let you harm this town or my people. So why don't you just step out of the vehicles so I can look you in the eyes." Kamen Rider Ittune told the three, stepping towards them slowly.

The two cars behind the bike surged forward, blasters firing at him as he skated to the side rapidly, dodging each shot while he held out his arms in a come on gesture.

"WELL!? WHAT IS IT!? WHO WANTS SOME!?" He punched the ground, launching himself skywards, the cars shot past him, while he landed down with his arms crushing the ground below in a double hammer blow.

Two long lines of force shot out, and formed a pair of furrows in the ground. Whirling around took a bit of time that he didn't have, and out of the corner of his view-screen he saw the two cars wheeling around then shooting towards him.

"Oh this is going to suck." He realized they intended to ram him between each other, before they could reach him and hand his first painful defeat, he heard a strange mechanical noise in front of him, and then his jaw dropped behind his mask.

The bike had raced forward, then its entire form shifted and morphed, its rider disappeared, revealing it to have been a hologram this entire time.

It transformed, for lack of a better word, forming into a massive feminine figure that made Jack gulp slowly. The female robot was taller than he was by a good amount, with black toned legs, metallic boot like blue feet that had wheels at the back of the legs, and pink highlights near the top of the legs.

The femme had a blue colored lower torso, almost forming a blue colored plate around her lower body, which extended upwards into a blue metal covered upper torso with… He hesitated for a few seconds before he acknowledged that yes those were breasts on her body, metal of course but still there and very apparent to him that this was a girl-robot. The arms were colored similarly to the legs, blue with pink highlights. And both arms were formed into a pair of blasters that were unloading into the cars that attempted to ram him, they both veered to the side and dodged the shots, backing up slowly to avoid them. They paused as the femme aimed at the two cars that were already revving up to attack again.

To complete the upper body had blue fin-like wings that went over the back, a metal face with stern blue eyes and even harsher features set into a frown. This face seemed to be contained in a blue helmet like head, with pink highlights, and a red plate of some kind over her forehead.

"These guys aren't your little mindless robots Kamen Rider. They're Cybertonians, transformers, we're a little more dangerous and smarter than that." She warned him, Kamen Rider Ittune giving her a once over.

"Alright. Fair enough. So what do we do then… uh…? Talking Bike Lady who may or may not be the most attractive woman I've ever seen in my entire life?" He said without his usual sarcasm for once.

"We?" She looked at him with a scoff, about to tell him to stand back until he pointed at where the wreckage of where he had smashed the Giganto Metalhead.

"I'm not weak and I can fight alongside you Talking Bike Lady. Trust me when I say that I can hold my own, if I have a good enough teacher to show me how to fight your enemies." He said with a nod at her, slamming both the vibro-shock knuckles together to prove his point.

"Ugh. I'm going to regret this, especially letting some cocky punk like you fight next to me. But my name is Arcee, Kamen Rider. And these guys are the twins, Vehicons and very dangerous ones at that. They're fast, armed, and lethal. Take them seriously and fight like you're dealing with intelligent enemies. Not those drones." She told him, giving him an annoyed stare as he just nodded at her, getting serious.

"I may talk crap and act cocky when I'm dealing with you Arcee. But I'm serious when it comes to fighting evil. I can't afford not to be," his words carried his intentions clearly as he adjusted the knuckles in each hand making her sigh, her eyes focused on him briefly before she replied harshly, "Just follow my lead and do as I say. You'll live longer that way. I'll distract them both with my shots, you try and hit them both while they're distracted dodging."

"Affirmative Arcee-sensei." He saluted her, making her look at him in confusion until he explained quickly, "It's Omegankatsu, er, Japanese for teacher. Which you are to me right now."

"Teacher. Right, just get in line Kamen Rider. I'll show you what to do." She said as she took aim at the two cars, kneeling almost while he readied himself next to her.

Just as they began firing again, she beat them to the shot so to speak and started relentlessly pouring energy into her shots, each blast forced the two cars to swerve to avoid the energy blasts.

"Alright… Wait for the moment of attack… Rei. Ichi. Ni. San. Yon." He cast aside all fears and doubts, concentrating as for the first time he was fighting opponents that were smart enough to think like intelligent enemies.

He couldn't afford to hold back or treat this like a game anymore. As a wise man once said, the game has changed, and with it he had to start getting serious. A month of fighting Metalheads had only been preparation for stronger enemies. Arcee counted down the micro-cycles as she watched the twins rush them down.

"Kamen Rider… NOW!" She unleashed a barrage of shots, which gave Kamen Rider Ittune the cover he needed to skate forward, his arms held to the sides before he twisted each of the handles on his knuckles.

"AND LAUNCH!" Four small micro-jets opened up on the sides of the spheres, the metal rod shrinking and making each half of the sphere clink together.

Firing off two massive cannon balls, the weapons pounded into the sides of the Vehicon drones sent after Arcee. In an explosion of force that made each car roll over on their side, flames bursting out over their bodies until they exploded in agonizing death, Kamen Rider Ittune slowly turned to Arcee who stared at their handiwork silently.

"Not a bad first team-up partner." Jack said with a chuckle until Arcee bent down so her face could stare him in the helmet, her expression one of extreme irritation, "Let's get one thing first here hotshot. You're not my partner. You're an irresponsible cocky punk in a suit that's made you grow complacent. We only won because I helped you out. You almost got creamed fighting these two. So start taking this more seriously. This isn't a game and my enemies are not stupid, not like yours."

Kamen Rider Ittune silently looked at her after she tore into him, and nodded slowly, "I understand Arcee. I'm sorry if I offended you. I'll do as you say from here on out."

A little more ashamed now that she realized she had been overly harsh on the Rider who only wanted to fight alongside her, Arcee transformed into her bike mode in a change of the subject, "Get on. I didn't come just to get your help to fight those Vehicon twins. My leader wants to meet you."

"…" Jack stared at the extremely beautiful bike that also turned into an extremely beautiful robot woman, and had one thing to say after looking at her, "Oh this is going to be a wonderful partnership…"

He got onto her form, and after admiring and all but groping her seat and handle in admiration of how well designed they were, something Arcee found a little strangely nice herself, they drove off together.

Towards a future that both were uncertain about. Both for their own reasons.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And I believe this is a great point to stop for now!

I hope you all really enjoy this story as I really enjoyed writing this!

Transformers Prime and Kamen Rider were a natural fit to me.

And as I'm a huge fan of Jack X Arcee for a lot of reasons, this seemed an absolutely perfect crossover.

Hope you all approve of this story! I worked hard on it and made my beta suffer for it.

Thank The Swordslinger as always for being my best friend on writing quality stories. And for suffering through Transformers Prime when he's not overly fond of Transformers, and both of us hate the living cancer sore that is Miko.

Oh yeah, in case you're curious, no we don't like Miko. And no, despite that intense hatred we share for her, we're not going to bash her.

At most we're going to give her the hard lessons she should've had in series to make her into a more mature character. Yeah, the genki girl stuff doesn't work when the character doesn't have the ability to get serious or take things as seriously as they should.

Give Sailor Moon this, at least she could get serious at times and take a foe down without endlessly being a hyperactive spaz about it.

Ranting aside, we're not going to bash Miko. We're going to develop her into a better character than she was in canon. And even after that, we're not going to pair her with Jack. At all.

This is strictly a Jack X Arcee story as that pairing is canon and any attempts to say otherwise will be regarded as flames or otherwise pure ignorance. If you believe Jack X Miko is canon, please kindly show yourself and your quality recognition to the door, and leave this story as it's not for you.

Everyone else who understands that a forced romance does not equal a good pairing, welcome aboard Jack X Arcee airlines, the trip will be hopefully interesting and a little bumpy.

Also I'll write an omake at request for the first person who gets what alien species I was inspired by for the Omegan people. And from what series they originated from. Anyways…

I'll let my good beta give his input here.

 **The Swordslinger here** : This is all my friend with a few suggestions from me, so you'll see him going nuts. I'm not crazy about Transformers like my friend is, I never was as a kid. Sure, I watched some shows but not even the toys called my attention. And while I'm giving Transformers Prime a chance, I just think I'm hoping to see less of Miko than enjoying the show. Yes, sorry to all Miko fans, but her kind of comedy isn't my thing.

Anyhow, I hope you like what my friend wrote, because he wouldn't shut up about it until dragging me into it by force, bribing and cheap emotional manipulation. With friends like this, who needs


	2. Two Kamen Rider's? Who is Discordia?

This is a pet project that I enjoy deeply writing. And if it pleases people, I'm glad to see it!

Anyways, I don't want to waste much time because I love writing this story, and I love working on it. So together with my long-suffering brother in all but name The Swordslinger, we present our next chapter!

Enjoy!

We don't own Transformers or Kamen Rider, or anything else we use for this story! If we did we'd be very rich men indeed.

X-X-X-X-X

"So Arcee, who am I supposed to be seeing here? You have a boss? If so, when can I meet him?" The trip to the base seemed to be taking a while as they had driven out of Jasper a good five minutes ago.

Driving down the roads, Jack found himself wanting to try steering himself, but his ride seemed reluctant to allow him to touch her handles more than necessary.

"You'll know Optimus Prime when you see him Kamen Rider Ittune. And I'll have to request that you take off the suit when you meet him."

Freezing up behind his suit, Jack responded with a hesitant tone, "Why? Can't a Rider keep a secret identity? Or is there a no secrets rule I'm supposed to be aware of?"

"If we're meant to trust each other, we have to be able to share this knowledge with each other. Your enemies could very well be ones we'd need to fight ourselves, if so, wouldn't knowing who you really are aid us in that?" Arcee usually wasn't the diplomat, that was Optimus' thing, but even she could tell that the Rider on top of her was hesitant about this.

She was too, but for different reasons than he was. She wasn't sure they should involve a stranger with his own enemies into their fold, but the fact was he helped fight off the twins and destroyed them with her help. He was a respectful if cocky punk, and she hoped that he could be trusted. They had too few allies nowadays, and too many enemies. Someone with the skills and strength of this Kamen Rider would be all but helpful towards their cause.

"Yeah… You have a point Giant Robot Lady." He commented to her, making her purposefully drive over a pot-hole to punish him for his mocking nickname. "Crimeny! Sorry Arcee! Touchy much, huh?"

His question made her respond testily, "I don't have patience to really banter with you. And I don't trust you much more than I did before. You're useful and strong, but I'm not your friend or your partner. So, don't get too friendly."

He merely nodded at her with a sigh behind his mask, "You know, trust is a two-way street. I put my trust in you to watch my back in that fight, you not doing the same tells me that it'll be a rocky start to our little alliance."

The giant robot bike was quiet for a while, before she sullenly told him, "We're at the base. You'll be Fowlers and Optimus' problem then."

In response the Kamen Rider told her quietly, "If you push everyone away, even people who want to be your friends, you'll have only yourself to trust when things go bad."

Arcee's retort came quickly and with as much conviction as he'd heard from her to that point, "That suits me just fine. I've made it this long without needing attachments… they only hurt you in the end anyway."

Before he could ask her what that meant, hoping to decipher more of the Transformers thoughts and feelings, they drove into a massive mountain. Disappearing through the fake rock wall that covered the gate that he barely restrained yelling about, the two drove all the way down a tunnel road.

Eventually arriving at a command center, where she told him, "This is our stop. Get off and watch your mouth Kamen Rider Ittune. Optimus and the rest should be in soon to talk with you."

He turned to her, seemingly silent before he just nodded and got off her. Whereupon she transformed back and watched him look up at her. She found the completely emotionless lenses of his mask creepy to investigate. She wasn't used to being unable to see the face of her opponent, even the Vehicons and Decepticons had faces she could look at.

The Rider here hid his behind a mask, and that made his thoughts and expressions unknown to her. This sense of disquieting silence made her jumpy, she didn't know what he was really doing inside the suit, and she only had his word that he wouldn't attack her. That word wasn't worth scrap to her if she was honest with herself.

"Illdos. Done analyzing her?" His sudden question startled Arcee, before he went silent, seemingly to listen to something.

She tried to ask him what he was talking about, but he was completely unresponsive even when she called out to him, "Hey! Kamen Rider! What do you mean analyzing her? Who are you talking to?"

Inside of Jack's suit, he saw a detailed read-out and blue-print of Arcee's data roll out in front of his visor.

"Cybertonian. Colloquially called Transformers by races they have encountered. They are a technologically advanced robotic species, evolving from an entity known as Primus, who they worshipped as their god. Their race destroyed itself in a great civil war, fought between two major fractions. The Autobots and Decepticons. To put it simply their home planet was also destroyed, and they have wandered the stars ever since."

Jack purposefully asked aloud, "And which one is she? Autobot or Decepticon?" he was aware of the effect his masked form had on people, and knew it was useful in discerning the true thoughts and feelings of those around him.

You can always trust fear and suspicion to reveal what someone really thought about you. Arcee to his surprise didn't get hostile or point those laser guns at him, she merely looked a little more wary now. In this way he relaxed a little himself.

"She is an Autobot. They did not start the war, the Decepticons did, and therefore we are in no immediate danger. You can tell their fractions by the symbols they bare upon their frames, an easy way to distinguish and understand whose side they're on."

"I see. So she's a good robot, then?" He asked aloud once more, taking a strange joy in observing how Arcee slowly relaxed herself and seemed calmer than before.

"Good is a subjective term, as morality isn't so easily defined by fraction or membership of a certain group. But in the Great War that destroyed Cybertron, the Autobots did display morality, chivalry, and regard for their fellows… at least early on before such things were thrown out."

"War is hell, isn't it?" He asked Arcee, his tone one of empathy.

"It is. You're learning about our history, aren't you?" Her question was answered by him giving her a small nod, making her cross her arms in response.

"You should really talk to one of us about that. Optimus or Ratchet. They'd be able to tell you more than some data logs made by another species ever could; especially not ones that weren't there first hand." She said seriously.

"Jack. I don't like what this near-extinct relic said about me or the Omegan. My data records are the most precise and complete of any race in the known galaxy. I hold the sum total of an entire races knowledge in my memory banks, and some blue and pink colored glorified bicycle-hussy isn't-"

Jack held back a snicker as he told Arcee, "My suit AI doesn't like you much Arcee." She merely narrowed her eyes in confusion before he held out his finger for her to wait. He went silent, before he burst out laughing, "She just… ehehe! Called you a two-toned ill-matched scooter… HAHAHAHA! With ehehe…! O-over complicated mechanisms… eheh!" He clapped a glove to his mask, laughing even more now.

Despite herself, Arcee gained a small smirk of amusement at his honest laughter. The bonding they no doubt were forming was ended when Optimus Prime walked into the room, the heavy metallic foot treads of the head bot in charge heralding the arrival of the other Autobots as well.

"You're Optimus Prime." Jack said to the giant robot, stepping forward slowly to face the leader of the Autobots.

"Just a moment." One of the robots he noticed said. He held out a strange device in his hand. A green light shot out and slowly moving up his entire body and suit, making him leap back when it was done.

"What the hell?! Were you scanning me?" He asked the robot, a red and white one with the symbol of a hospital ambulance over one arm. He was clearly bigger than Arcee and had a disgruntled expression on his face while ignoring Kamen Rider Ittune's question.

"Optimus. I can't tell who's in that suit. It appears to have blocking and jamming frequencies of a particularly advanced nature. Clearly whoever built the suit thought ahead to block anyone from being able to tell who the user was." The red and white robot told Optimus Prime, who gave him a slight nod.

"I appreciate your concern Ratchet, but if we cannot trust this Masked Rider, then we might as well trust no one. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, perhaps you should introduce your new friends as well. They might be able to prove to the Kamen Rider that we're capable of earning their trust." Jack was startled when a massive green robot and a bright yellow and black one showed two figures at their side.

"You two..." Jack was able to hide his surprise at seeing Miko and Raf, his schoolmates and in the latter's case his friend walking in.

Miko was ecstatic and quickly rushed over to the Kamen Rider with a squeal of, "OMG! You're an actual Kamen Rider! I thought you guys didn't leave Japan! Where did you get your belt?! Do you have a bike yet?! Is your suit capable of-"

When she moved to touch it, his gloved hand shot out and grabbed her arm tightly. He only gripped her hard enough to keep her still, not to hurt her, to which she didn't even let loose a loud ouch to. Then the green robot stepped forward in concern until Kamen Rider Ittune let go of her.

"Alright. No. Two things you need to learn there, girl. One. I can't really answer a lot without knowing you guys better. Two. You're being… way too friendly, and I like my personal space." Kamen Rider Ittune told her, silently staring at her with those eerie yellow lenses of his.

One even zoomed in on her face, highlighting the disquieting nature of his stare. "Jeez! Fine! Be moody! See if I care!" Miko backed away, giving him a pout.

Jack just crossed his arms similarly to Arcee. "Okay, sorry for being rude. Just listen, I am already way in over my head with my problems and don't know how much more I can handle it myself to then suddenly have alien robots pop into my life." He said calmly.

To Optimus' credit, he nodded, "Let me hear your concerns, then."

Jack nodded, "Let me be as honest as I can since you care to listen, but let me warn you: I'll be blunt." Here he held out each finger, nailing Miko with a harsh tone and that alien stare from his mask. "I have some more things to say. One, you're trusting Miko, who's as subtle as a bomb, with the secret that you're an alien race on our planet."

She glared back at him childishly, "Well, aren't you polite." She crossed her arms and looked away with an undignified look on her face.

He sighed, "Which brings us to two. Explain to me why we have to work together when you're dragging her into this."

Ratchet stepped forward, looking down on the Kamen Rider with a near furious expression, "Look here masked rider or whoever you say you are, you're finally making sense as this was what my main concern with Optimus was, but he chose to keep her safe rather than have the Decepticons think she's allied with us and go to her. A choice I don't enjoy, but it's better than letting someone suffer at the hands of their interrogators for information that couldn't have existed. They've done so in the past with whoever interacted with us… Far too many deaths to count."

The masked teen nodded, "Alright, that's another thing I have an issue with and just have to address." He asked Optimus, who merely stared at him, as if to encourage him to continue. "Let me ask, why are you at war? What is even the point of the Decepticons? Can they even be reasoned with?"

The green one gave him a rough laugh, responding with a mocking tone, "You think a Decepticon like that exists? That's a laugh. Rider, Optimus has tried to reason with their leader countless of times, and the guy left nothing but pieces of junk like him. They're like a swarm, thinking it's good to kill all who stand in their way. If there's ever one of them that's good, I'd like to see what makes them different."

"Then my new issue is, what makes you so sure there aren't any good ones?"

"How so?" Ratchet asked, "We have tried, Optimus has for far more, to reach to them. None changed."

"That's the thing." He turned to Ratchet now, "I hate guys who would hurt others without a second to at least think about it. And if what you say is true, I can see one of them isn't worth it. Doesn't mean I want to kill every single one that comes my way like they're expendable, and even less when they could say the same about you."

"What do you mean?" Arcee was baffled, "They'd tell us we're nothing but obstacles in their way."

"My point exactly." Jack looked up at her, "Say all you want how you're good and bad, nothing's ever that black and white. If all you do is point someone as evil because they're different, what makes you better than them besides the fact that you believe you're good? All I'm doing is hear you talk, but I haven't seen proof of this. If what you have is a war, I don't want to pick a side after seeing only one."

Optimus who had remained silent, considering the words of the Kamen Rider and contemplating them, gave him a nod that shocked Ratchet and Bulkhead. "Your logic is sound. Trust is not demanded, it is earned. So I request for you, Kamen Rider, Omegan Fire Hero or human warrior. To allow us to earn your trust. You have already forged a bond with one of us."

Startling at that, the Kamen Rider looked at Arcee who merely turned her head away from him, pausing to consider this request before he looked back at Optimus Prime slowly, "…Illdos? Advice?"

He asked aloud, quickly growing silent as a long minute passed. Eventually he looked back up at the Autobots, before he slowly reached for his belt. With a snap, he unclicked the iPhone like device from his belt, a flash of yellow light and strange text rotating around him before Jack Darby stepped forward.

Miko looked shocked at him, "…Jack!?"

"See what I meant with subtle as a bomb?" he rhetorically, and tiredly, asked Optimus.

"She's at least kept our identities secret for some time now, so there's that." Ratchet said without much effort into sounding convincing.

Arcee looked more shocked, looking down at him with an expression somewhere between irritation and confusion, "You're just a human juvenile… What are you doing with weapons like those and in a war?"

"I'm not even sure I can answer that straight…" rubbing the back of his head thoughtfully, he tried to see if he could come up with a proper response, "I guess I'm just a fool that walked in at the wrong place at the wrong time. Thing is, I'm not some chosen hero of legend… I'm just the idiot that has to fix this mess for others' sake."

"Crudely said, but relatable." Optimus replied before looking at him in the eye, "That being said, what is your choice?"

"Let me think on my decision. I'm not sure of anything yet." Jack said, looking at Optimus then Arcee slowly.

"Mind if I talk with Arcee for a bit? I want to get her perspective on this thing. And she is the only one I know personally… besides Raf, but his partner is…" He turned to the large yellow robot who made a series of beeps, clicks, and whirs.

"That's a proper introduction, Bumblebee, but…" Ratchet started to say.

"Yeah, I don't know how to reply to that." Jack said with a slow nod to the medi-bot for helping. The robot looked at him with frustrated blue eyes until Jack sighed and placed Illdos onto his belt once more. After a quick shout of Henshin, Jack was back in the suit.

"Don't worry, I think he gets it." Raf told his big yellow friend.

"I think I do…" Jack said uneasily before he turned to the blue and pink robot watching him silently, "Arcee. I know a great spot to talk and hash things out on. Follow me."

He said as the four rockets on his legs snapped out, lifting him into the air while Arcee gave off a noise halfway between a grumble and a huff, even as she transformed and followed Kamen Rider Ittune as he jetted off. Raf rubbed the back of his head slowly, looking at Miko who was in a completely foul mood herself than at Bumblebee who looked at him with a shrug.

"Well. This didn't go as badly as they could have." He said, mostly to himself.

X-X-X-X-X

His jets lifted him up a tall mesa, before he landed on top of the flat surface of the rock, silently dangling his boots over the edge. The sun was hanging low and cast an orange pallor over the rocks and ground, it was in this light that Arcee all but drove up the side of the rock, flipping in midair to land on the smooth top of the mesa.

"Hey. Want to talk here? This place has a great view. Probably the best around If you ask me, you can even see my town from here." Jack asked the transformer, who found it a bit difficult to sit down due to her height, but like him she found her legs hanging over the edge.

"What do you even think we have in common Jack? We're-" Arcee began to say until she was cut off.

"We're both fighting for those we care for." The Kamen Rider stared at the town, speaking again as Arcee considered his words, "Like the Decepticons, the Metalheads aren't going to stop until they pry Illdos from my cold dead hands. Then they'll metallize this entire planet, killing every bit of organic life on it, before they move on to the next. It's what they've always done."

"Jack..." Arcee for the first time realized that the human she had considered cocky and arrogant was just blustering, he was hiding how great the scope of his war was because he didn't want to worry about what'd happen if he failed.

Shifting his helmet to the side, Jack tapped a plate on the side of it, opening his visor plate by way of the lenses sliding to the sides, exposing the empty space so she could see his face and how serious he was staring at her, "You guys will probably be safe, they don't attack inorganic lifeforms. But my mom, and Raf? Everyone in town… Hell, in the entire world. They'll be gone."

Arcee was silent as he talked, the weight of his words felt heavy, even for her. She could imagine how much they pulled down at the Kamen Rider next to her, who even now was staring over his home.

"Jack. You're serious about fighting, aren't you?" She asked him, clenching one metallic hand as she stared at the sky, her optics seeming to shift and move around as she thought about what to say.

"Rhetoric question?" she nodded.

"How strong does that suit make you? Have you tested your limits?" She asked him finally, her expression guarded, Jack tapped the side of his helmet, the lenses and visor snapping back into place.

"I've tested out my physical strength. I can punch hard enough to break steel girders, so at the very least it's about ten tons per punch. With my legs… That's fifteen tons. I've tested it out on small time gangs, the kind of drug pushing punks who'd have small arms. I can deflect bullets easily, sustained fire arm fire too. I'm tough enough for the Metalheads." He explained to her, Arcee quietly gazing at him as his lenses hid his thoughts and expressions from her.

"Then I guess I've got no choice, do I? You'll fight with or without me." she closed her eyes and gave a tired sigh, "Guess you're my partner now. I can't let some punk kid fight all by himself. Besides, what's a Masked Rider without a ride?" She asked him with a chuckle, making Jack raise his fist to hers.

She looked askance until he told her calmly, "It's called a fist bump. It means that we understand each other. It's nothing big or symbolic, but it's something I do with people I call friends."

"Well, maybe it's the start to a good partnership." She said as she bumped her far larger fist on his knuckles.

That got a chuckle out of him, but soon they had to acknowledge that they had to cut it short. After giving the boy a ride, Arcee was about to go back to the base when she heard him talk, "Hey, uh… It's the first time I bring a girl home, so trust me when I say I'm dying slightly inside asking this cliché…" he started to say as he changed back to his civilian form, "Can I call you tomorrow?"

She looked at him quizzically as he shut the door to his garage to talk, "What do you mean?"

He rubbed the back of his head in mild-embarrassment, "You see, we Kamen Riders always have a vehicle to deal with evil, and you're the fastest bike I've ever seen. And this is where it's going to sound weird. A good Rider always finds a copy. Whatever evil they find tends to do its best to find an equal. I've made my research and some of those Dark Riders, as they're called, are pretty tough. If it comes down to it, I want someone like you at my side if anything like that ever happens."

She morphed to her Autobot form, a hand on her hip, "You can't be serious." She started sternly, making him look down… only to smile, "I told you I'm your partner, did you need to ask?"

He snickered, mostly for his initial reaction of shame, at her comment, "Thanks, I mean it."

She crossed her arms, "Though, really… what kind of monster could be a Dark Rider?"

X-X-X-X-X

The kind of person she was talking about was in a dark alley. They didn't seem like much, a seventeen-year-old with a massive grin on their face, blond hair done in a spiky Mohawk, and a light tan. With sharp black eyes, a scar on his square face that went from the bridge of his nose to his right cheek, and a chipped ear, he looked like a punk. His clothes even completed the image with a red muscle shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, black combat boots, and a black leather jacket with the sleeves rolled to the elbows.

What stood out the most was the teen's short stature… being only two inches from being five foot tall. As for the rest of his body, it was quite scrawny, yet packed with muscle. And, last but not least, he wore a pair of black, fingerless leather gloves caked in someone else's blood. He was holding a large man in a fancy suit at least twice his size and with muscles over his muscles. The guy looked like he ate teens like him for breakfast to be so big, and yet he was down on the floor, held up by the lapels of his business coat.

"Give me a fight next time." The blond teen said smugly before kicking the suited man on the head, and spat on his face, "God damn pricks like you always walk around with money, throwing it like it's water, for some cheap fun…" he reached into the man's coat and pulled a wallet with a handful of big bills, grinning, "Well, at least I can use this."

He threw the wallet at the man's face and turned to the side, a woman in a very short black mini-skirt, a purple tube top, and her makeup a mess with her hair a bigger mess stepping out, "Who…or what the fuck are you?"

"You're not going to call the cops?" the teen asked before kicking the suited man in the ribs, breaking them, "He shouldn't have hit you after you told him no."

"He's the only pimp around, not much of a choice…" was the woman's dry reply.

"Well, I got money out of it, so there's that." The blond punk said and waved at her before leaving, "Sure feels nice to blow some steam, so call me if you need me to break his teeth next."

And that was Benny Howard, punk, undefeated street brawler, and a troublemaker with a record that would make sure he only worked in underground fighting rings. Not that he'd mind. Living with no parents, being born alone and raised into a shitty orphanage, and all around hating many people who had more luck than he did wasn't a good childhood. He discovered he was good punching people when some guy tried to bully him, and he ended up breaking the bully's jaw barehanded.

"Tch… punk ass pimps… Always trying to muscle in on places they're not wanted." He shoved his hands into his pockets, spitting to the sides as he walked away from the scene of his violence.

High above him, perched silently against a ledge, was a long spindly nightmare. Wiry prehensile hair floated behind its odd eyeball head, syringe like devices attached to the ends of each strand. Its body possessed a strangely effeminate design, a smooth and somewhat curvy frame, with an oddly feminine curve to the hips and a rounded chest. Clutching the brick work with triple talon equipped feet, it lifted two long needles for arms, a pair of sharp claws wiggling slowly before the entire thing dropped down behind Benny.

He didn't even have time to spin around before the thing stabbed him in the back, one of the tendrils attached to its hair pumping in a dark blue liquid that made his eyes heavy. His vision darkened, he didn't even have the presence of mind to hear the thing speak with a modulated emotionless tone that seemed to possess a slight purr to it.

"Subject captured. Proceeding with retrieval. Project Antithesis to begin soon."

Clutching the prize to its 'bosom' the Metalhead scuttled off into the dark. Its ominous yellow gaze highlighting the darkness around it as it skittered and clicked across the darkness coated town, heading towards a remote location to await retrieval.

Benny Howard never even had a chance to question what was to happen to him. All he would recall waking up was experiencing agonizing pain and horrific tortures beyond description, but one thing that brought him peace of mind was that he was growing stronger. Through his delirium, he could tell he was surpassing his former humanity. That he was becoming… something more.

X-X-X-X-X

"I can't believe our luck!"

Hearing Miko complain out loud at the start of a school day in the hallways was an indication that one is about to have some trouble. Usually she managed to make a mess, but for once it didn't seem like what so many had dubbed the Miko-factor came into play. For starters, when Jack entered the school, no soul tried to make noise and avoided Miko at all costs. Not something unusual when she was in a bad mood, but it would have made sense if they were talking about her rambling, not simply try to downright look away from her.

"Calm down, I'm sure it won't be that bad…" Raf tried to be reasonable, but it seemed like he was trying to fool himself into what he was saying.

"What's going on?" Jack finally asked.

"How can you have not heard?!" Miko exclaimed, putting her face right in front of his, "The worst is yet to come! Abandon hope all who set foot in this place! That's the kind of mayhem you've walked in today, mister!"

Jack gently put a finger on her forehead to keep her still before taking a step back, "Rewind a bit."

"So you haven't heard." Raf started, "Ever heard of the name Benny "the Bloody" Howard?"

"It sounds like a bad luchador name," was the Rider's reply.

Sighing loudly, Miko explained, "He's the worst! The guy literally fights whoever crosses his path for a thrill and he just… walked in! Crazy, I know! Practically all schools in everywhere would ban him!"

"And he just got in today." Raf added, "The principal hadn't a choice, he has to be in because, well, rules and the fact somehow this guy got a paper that says he has to be here."

"Sounds vague at best." Jack explained.

"That's because it is." Raf answered, "I've heard some teachers talk about it, and as much as they want to they do not have the power to kick him out."

Jack arched a brow, "Is he really that bad?"

As he had asked that, a grunt was heard and one of Jack's classmates, a boy who loved to show off his car and all its fanciness, was sent flying and skidded to a halt on the floor. Jack recognized the guy as one of the jerks that made fun of him for his job and even didn't pay him for food to further antagonize him. But a Rider isn't someone to ignore people.

And that's how he came face to face with Benny, who was singlehandedly dragging another student, a big jock in the school's football team uniform, by the head. The guy was unconscious and yet it was fairly and terrifyingly impressive to see Benny drag a nearly 200 pounds teen by the head.

"Hello there, darling." Benny started with a lopsided smile, "See, me and the girls are playing rough, so I would like it if you let me teach the lady behind you some manners. Think you could be a dear? If so, I got lots of thanks for smart guys like you who live longer."

"Yeah, gonna stop you there, bud." Jack firmly crossed his arms, "Much as I dislike the guy, and trust me when I say that I do, he ain't worth beating up."

Benny let go of the jock's head and scratched his head with a distraught expression on his face, "So, what's your name, Joe, John, something random but cliché?"

"Jack, and you are Benjamin, if I'm not mistaken."

"I prefer Benny, but yes." The blond aligned his Mohawk and smirked as he walked to Jack, standing two inches taller than him without counting his hair, "You my fan, sweetie? Or did I rough your girlfriend a bit too much?"

Jack grinned, "Actually, I wouldn't have minded seeing you continue, but…" he sighed and closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself for trouble, "There is a problem here. And that is the fact you don't see that I won't let you do what you want."

"So… is he single?" Miko asked, causing Raf to slap his face, "What? I know this cute girl who'd like him!"

Benny, though, just grinned, "Well then, Jackie Boy, color me impressed." He shrugged, "Do you really wanna take a punch for him? Would you go that far?"

Jack clenched his jaw and nodded, "Is that all it takes for you to leave everyone here alone?"

Everyone gasped, and Benny whistled, "Man, you got them big brass balls, don't you?"

"I'm afraid I'm out of ideas, so call me an idiot…" Jack ground his teeth and prepared himself.

Benny nodded, "Fine then. Take a punch from me, stand tall, and I won't treat your girlfriend rough. If you bitch out, your ass is mine."

Jack opened his eyes and nodded, "Shoot, then."

Grinning maniacally, Benny reared back his fist, stomped forward, threw a lightning fast punch forward… and stopped. Mid-swing, just a couple of inches from Jack's face, he froze dead in his tracks. Benny could just stare at Jack, for the black-haired boy was still clenching his jaw, but he didn't close his eyes. In fact, he looked surprised by the fact Benny stopped and looked as confused as him.

The blond arched a brow, "Huh…" was all he said before turning around and shrugging, "Man, it ain't fun to beat up guys like you. Big brass balls indeed, Jackie Boy. Very gigantic ones."

Jack stared dumbfounded, "Uh, thanks…?"

Benny shook his head, "Way to kill my mood, too." He turned and, to everyone's shock, beamed, "Tell you what, you're the first to fight me to not be a bitch. I'll forgive your girlfriend and her gal pals, free of any charge. In return, I wanna have fun with you, Jackie Boy, the first darling to not be a pussy-ass bitch."

"What just happened?" Raf asked.

Miko gasped, "Oh my god, he faced the equivalent to the mad dog of legend in Kamurocho!"

Raf was baffled, "Who?"

"Goro Majima, a legend in Japanese underground and very infamous for loving to fight everyone he comes across." She explained, "The guy's said to have fought over a hundred yakuza barehanded for the funsies, and he lived to tell the tale."

"…I don't even want to know." Raf shook his head slowly, preparing to walk away.

"Jeez just live a little!" Miko gave him a glare, only for him to raise his hand above his head, shaking it out to indicate he didn't care.

After that, classes were as usual, a drag. People kept their distance from Jack, though a few girls did stare at him after hearing about how he stood up to the scary new kid.

"Same old, same old…"

He tried to focus on his inner meditation. He ignored the chatter around him and zoned out, his body on autopilot. He took notes while focusing on what his 'sensei' Shadestar had taught him on meditation.

' _Rei, Ichi, Ni, San, Yon. Rei, Ichi, Ni, San, Yon.'_

In the mind's eye, he was practicing against his sensei, fighting against her with a practiced martial arts kata. A flowing kick was blocked by her knee. Back-step. Dodge to the side when kicked himself. Counter with his arm, thrust forward in a punch, roll with the motion, and dodge again when she flung her leg out in an attempt to stomp kick him.

The mental sparring he performed was an exercise in keeping his mind at a constant combat readiness, never once losing his edge or attention to his surroundings. The only downside to the meditation was that outside of automatic responses towards detected threats, he was absolutely dead to anything that wasn't worth his notice. As such, he completely ignored Sierra talking to him after class, his body simply leaving the classroom while his gaze was focused on something in the distance.

"Jack! Hey Jack, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to-" she tried to get his attention by standing in front of him with her best award-winning smile, only to see him move around as he kept walking towards the school doors. The stunned expression she had turned to rejection, then frustration, and finally anger.

' _Rei, Ichi, Ni, San, Yon. Rei, Ichi, Ni, San, Yon.'_

Dodging a palm thrust from Shadestar, Jack whirled to the side, grabbing her arm and attempting to throw her over his shoulder. She rolled with the movement, swiveling about with her body twirling over his back, her leg clocking him in the face. He stumbled back, holding his nose as he saw his sensei give him a smug smirk, her three fingered hand going into a come hither gesture at him.

' _Rei, Ichi, Ni, San, Yon._ '

He took his own stance, before charging forward, his fists coming out in a practiced combo, his passion and anger burning bright like the flame, and his hits moving at the speed a burning conflagration spread. Grasping the style of the Omegan Fire Warriors in its intricate nature required a certain train of thought.

It required a strength of will and character very few people possessed. To put your all on the line for the innocent, and fight without regard for your own safety, if it meant protecting just one soul who needed your aid. That was what formed the core of the now long dead heroes. It was in this spirit that Jack fought, to prove himself worthy of those who came before him and those who might come after.

' _Rei! Ichi! Ni! San! Yon!'_

He neared the end of his spar, his mind's eye had never been clearer as he fought at double the pace. Pushing his sensei further and further back. He thrust both elbows down and onto Shadestar's shoulders, pushing her back with one knee and acrobatically kicking her legs out from under her with a spin of his body. Moving with the kick he just did, he grabbed her head and pummeled her stomach, slamming the full length of his arm into it until he was able to knock her flat on her back. She slowly rose as he panted, giving him an approving nod, and she clenched one fist and slammed it into her open palm. Making him respond by doing the same motion, both bowed to each other.

In real time, he had been so checked out, he had failed to notice Vince approving him angrily, "Hey! Darby! I'm talking to you burger flipper! Did you not just hear Sierra talking to you!? Do you think you can treat her like garbage?! Who do you think you are!?" Jack's silence and gaze didn't focus on him, his stride unbroken and moving right past the non-threat had enraged the bully to the point that he took a haymaker swing at the black-haired teenager.

Jack merely ducked to the side, spinning around his 'opponent' and then shot his palm forward like the snap of a viper's jaws. He held it in front of Vince's face. His instincts told him that the 'threat' was so far beneath him now it needed no further aggressive retaliation. The bully stumbled back in fear and shock, surprised by the reaction as was everyone else watching. Jack clenched his fist shut, and continued walking.

His spar completed, the focus returned to his eyes and he sighed in relief as he neared the entrance to school, finally he could get to something productive for his time. He looked back behind him on a whim, wishing to see what he had no doubt missed while walking out of class. He almost wished he hadn't upon seeing Vince near close to wetting himself, Sierra gaping, and the shocked expressions of his classmates who couldn't believe his actions thus far.

He cursed to himself, "Oh…god dammit."

"Ahahahaha!" up on the roof, Benny was lying on his side, propping his head with a hand and laughing so hard tears welled up in his eyes, "Jackie boy, I like you more and more! Eahahahaha! I knew you were no pansy, but damn, you're breaking my heart not giving me a fight."

As if hearing the mad blond, Jack growled as he could see what would happen. This would be a pain in the rear end to straighten out tomorrow. He wasn't sure he wanted to deal with all the hassle no doubt to occur. It was a pretty crummy end to his school day all things considered. But the upswing was that as he got outside after them, he saw Arcee parked by the entrance.

"Sorry about that, kneejerk reaction, you know." He blurted out at the stunned Vince before going straight to his bike.

"I see you're happy to see me." she whispered once he got on.

"Like you got no idea." He whispered back and drove off.

And as they left the school, Benny crouched on the edge of the roof, a smile plastered on his face and it spread fast, "So, that's the bike you want me to get you?"

A shadow loomed behind him, "Affirmative." An artificial voice that carried a slight degree of life told him, "Commence chase as soon as possible. You've approached a likely vessel of what we seek to destroy. Keep your distance, for mistakes could end with your life."

Nodding slowly, he grinned, "Sure, sure, sure!" he gave a feral smirk, "If he's this Kamen Rider or whatever you call it, I don't wanna bite it easy. But..." he tilted his head back enough to stare at his kidnapper and current superior, "Can't you gimme a ride? It'd be easier to chase him that way. Also, you're quite a fine thing. I would love to be as close to you as he seems to be to that super-tall robo-babe."

His blunt declaration didn't get the robot woman to twitch, "Processing... Regarding the vehicle, your request shall be discussed. However, as a human chosen to be the antithesis, you are to do your role. Our orders are absolute." Her words soured his mood.

"Eh, what a kick in the dick... Looking like my type even if you're not human..." he shrugged with a lazy smile, "Oh well, you gave me a chance to avoid getting bored. May as well make the most out of it."

"Go forth and destroy your enemy." The Nurse told him, her spindly form disappearing into the shadows.

Benny closed his eyes, dug deep into the core of his very being and ripped out what he wanted, "Heh…so how does those actors on TV say it? Oh yeah…Hen. SHIN!" He cackled madly as armor formed around his body, a helmet encircling his head and sealing it within impenetrable armor.

Two glowing red lenses shined in the darkness along with Benny's maniacal laughter.

X-X-X-X-X

It was a day like any other when Benny attacked. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and on that day… Jack Darby realized that his dream of a quiet life had ended.

It had ended the second he put on Illdos and became a Rider.

It had ended when he met Shadestar and realized the threat of the Metalheads.

Now and forever, he was fated to become a Rider and fight against evil and injustice in the world.

He had been walking home from school when it began. A rumble had drawn his attention to a barrel of rainwater, the tremors in the water made his eyes shoot to it.

"Raf. Get to Bumblebee." Jack's voice carried with it a tone of resignation and weary acceptance.

It made his young best friend curious, "Jack, what's up?"

"Gotta fight." Jack said, dropping his backpack and adjusting his collar, "Illdos, we good to go?"

"Scanning. No one is around for a roughly fifty-meter perimeter. We are clear for transformation." Jack stared up at the sun in the sky, his eyes closing as he thought to his mentors' words after Illdos gave him her report, he wrapped her his waist, his arms already falling into an X-shaped pose.

' _You must fight. You must protect what you love and who you love. Be the hero that we couldn't Jack. Please. I'm sorry for putting this burden upon you, I truly am.'_

He whispered to himself quietly, "I don't want to hear you apologize for anything, Shadestar. I'm not sure if I'm worthy or capable of being a hero, but I've made my choice." Spreading his arms wide, he threw one fist in front of his face yelling in a single breath, "HENSHIN!" Illdos formed around his body, and his yellow lenses proceeded to scan the area, data coming up rapidly, "…Crap. There's a lot of them. Just sitting on the buildings, watching us."

He swallowed, Illdos replying to him, "Affirmative. There are too many to fight without help. Jack, they're waiting for something…or someone."

He turned around, as did Raf when they heard a bike's engine roaring. A dark array of junk, broken pieces of steel put together in a jagged mess with the shape of a motorcycle, appeared. Every inch of it was one random broken piece of metal put together with two wheels held together with bent yet sturdy pipes. It wasn't pretty, but it looked powerful as two large exhaust pipes blew out fire beside the back wheel. And from it they could see a new Rider, or a mockery of one.

"Hey there, Ittune, right?" the new Rider asked as he crouched casually, staring at Jack.

Benny's transformation wasn't pretty to look at. First, dark metal coated his body like a second skin as steel wires and tubes sprouted out of it like roots. It looked painful as every inch of his flesh grew out the pieces of armor as if his veins and muscles were being pulled out of his flesh by invisible hands. By the end of it, he looked like a humanoid pile of junk, barbwire, tubes, and thick plates covered what looked like a humanoid body coated in black paint. Crimson lenses shined with malicious glee with a near featureless face. Broken plates of iron made up an eye mask of sorts while an array of spikes and short blades covered his shoulders, shins and forearms like spiked armor. Two blades in particular adorned the top of his head as if mimicking his Mohawk with their shape and promising a brutal deadly headbutt.

"Another Rider?!" Kamen Rider Ittune asked, shocked by the change that Benny had underwent.

The Dark Rider chuckled darkly, his hands up and shrugging, "Call me… Kamen Rider Discordia!" He held an arm, morphing it into a quad-barreled cannon, each barrel forming around the fist.

Kamen Rider Ittune didn't bother responding, he was already in motion. Dodging each shot and rolling to the side, explosions detonated all around him, and he was sent flying from the shockwaves more than anything. With a yell, he landed on his feet, staggering up and being blindsided by Kamen Rider Discordia crowbarring him across the body, his arm morphing into a huge metal club that he used to plow Kamen Rider Ittune to a wall! Spikes extended out and caused sparks to fly from Kamen Rider Ittune's suit, the white colored Rider struggling to break free to the best of his ability.

"Severe damage is being-" Illdos was cut off by Jack snapping.

"-given back!" he exclaimed as he lifted his right knee to his chest and extended his leg to kick Discordia on the face. A simple tactic but a useful one as the Dark Rider rolled over his back to end up on his knees.

"Damn! I knew I joined these rust-heads for a reason!" Benny cackled as he rolled around his arms with a smirk under his armor, "They said you were strong, and I wanna see you not be a punkass bitch!"

"You want to see me not be one, huh!? Alright, you're asking for it! Illdos, let's really bring down the pain!" The pumps that connected to Kamen Rider Ittune's body went rigid and glowed a bright red, bringing a heavy rush of adrenaline and vigor to the Rider's body.

He pulled out the Torch-knife while at the same time he held his other hand at his hip as withdrawing a gun from its holster. With a snap of his wrists, he extended both his Cym-Clapper Gun and the Torch-knife, holding both in a classical CQC pose. Kamen Rider Discordia circled his opponent, warier now as he felt a sense of danger emit from his rival Rider.

"Hey, you goin' to make a move or-SHIT!" He was blindsided by an utterly vicious low-blow.

Jack had aimed for his head in a feint, then when he blocked it with his arm morphing into a huge pair of scissor blades, he got the Cym-Clapper rammed into his chest and a sonic bullet unloading through his gut. Clapping an arm onto Discorda's shoulder, Jack held him in place, ramming the gun through the body and unloading up, down, and all-around, making parts, blood, and gore fly everywhere. Discordia flew back, smashing into a wall in a bloody heap, the twin yellow-lenses of Ittune staring him down as he got shakily up. His wounds sealing shut quickly and then repairing themselves.

"YEAH-HA! You're really playin' for keeps Ittune!" Discorda got up with a yell of excitement, clutching his stomach then moving his hand in a jazz hands like pose, "See? Good as new! This body of mine repairs all damage and then 'improves' the imperfections that got me hurt in the first place! Thank th-"

"If you're going to fight, fight, don't talk!" Ittune shouted.

Discordia was blindsided by the Torch-Knife launching into his skull, cleaving it down and sending brain and oil flying everywhere. It regenerated just as quickly before, but Ittune was already blasting his skull at point-blank range with the Cym-Clapper! Each sonic bullet made the air reverberate until Discorda had enough of the aggressive attacks and morphed both arms into twin cannon-barrels that he connected into a quad barreled rail-gun! The immense stream of white light was dodged as Ittune went airborne, shooting up with a hot-blooded yell, the first sign of emotion since he started fighting.

"That's right, get into it..." Discordia exclaimed as he got up, "Man, I can't get enough of this. The pain is a bitch and a half, but damn if this isn't fun!"

"Tch, I knew you guys weren't human, but you're more stubborn than one." Ittune said warily, keeping his sights on the guy.

"Oh, you think I'm not fully human still?" Discordia chortled as he stood up, "Wow, some hero, trying to kill first instead of rescuing what little humanity I may have." He snickered when Ittune said nothing, "Oh, what's the matter? Don't feel so good if you're told the truth? Think you're heroic for protecting others, keeping gullible cowards safe? Nah, if you fight, it's because you wanna, and that should be it. What does someone need to just get that point!?" he roared in the end, his two arms morphing into monstrous drills with jagged metal blades on each, "If you're fighting, stop trying to paint one side as good or bad! Just go and have a hoot!"

"…Good? Bad? Are you an idiot, a maniac, or just full of your own hubris? There's no 'side' here." Kamen Rider Ittune shook his head slowly, "Your 'side' is trying to exterminate all of humanity. My 'side' are the people who don't want to be Metallized into little more than tools of the Metalheads! Justice, good or evil, the only thing that matters to me…!"

"What!?" the dark Rider exclaimed as his opponent charged forward, and then rammed the full force of his fist into Discordia's face, breaking the face plate and showing the human's surprised face before Ittune flicked his wrist like a whip and punched him again!

"Is protecting everyone I care about on this world!" Both fists were replacing by the ball like Clang-Bash Knuckles, he rammed Discordia up, then used a double-hammer blow to bounce him painfully off of the concrete! "You think I'll waste my breath, trying to appeal towards a sociopath like you?! What have you ever tried to accomplish in your life that didn't involve using violence or cruelty?!" He blocked Discordia's arm from skewering him with his drill arms, right before Jack spun with the block, crow-barring Discordia across the neck and letting him drop onto the ground.

"So what!? I'm honest towards my desires, you pompous prick! You think you're doing yourself a favor, pretending like you don't enjoy fighting? Be honest! Be real! Let your feelings burst…!" Discordia smashed into Ittune, pinning him to the wall with one hand which had morphed into a clamp, the other changing into a pile-bunker which kept ramming into his head, smashing the helmet back and forth against the hard brick wall until he finished off the combo, "OUT!"

" _Severe damage..."_ Illdos warned Jack as Discordia chucked the Rider up, rose one leg up which morphed into an axe blade from the foot down, and axe-kicked him into the earth. Walking towards the fallen Rider, Discordia threw his head back and burst out cackling, shaking his head with a cold grin behind his mask.

"Hehehe…know what's the difference between you and me? I know when to call out bullshit. You might be fighting for others, but deep down, this is about something simpler than that… You wanna be validated. Want to know you're not just some burger flipping punk with average grades in a shithole town out in the boonies." Discordia grabbed him by his head, bending over in a squat, "Spare me the psycho-analysis bull!"

Ittune slapped his hand away, raising up shakily before he hardened his stance. As a response, Discordia brutally headbutted him, sending Jack back on the floor with a mad cackle. Ittune was out of breath, had lost his sense of balance, and could hear ringing in his ears. Discordia's body was less durable, but the guy packed a punch and was more than willing to get hurt if it meant landing a hit. Ittune saw it, the dark Rider's mask was cracked! Discordia headbutted him so hard that he broke his own head just to hurt him!

"This guy was a monster to begin with..." Jack groaned with a hand on his head as he and a dizzy Benny struggled to be on their feet, "Shit, Illdos, how bad is..." he felt his body get heavier and Illdos didn't reply.

"Ah yes, forgot to tell you." Discordia snickered, "I'm a mean big chunk of what keeps the rust-heads in one piece. I'm told other races can't really take it, so think of it as an infection."

"Oh crap..." Jack gasped when seeing his hand covered in black metal flakes, as if his armor was rusting.

"Man, and they told me the other guy had withstood this." Benny chortled, then paused and playfully slapped his forehead, "Oh dear me, did I give you a hint? Am I being a bad boy, rust-heads? Will that sexy lady of yours come and give me a spank?"

"Who-" Jack asked, only for a blur to leap into view, grab Benny, and leave.

"Oh come on, Nurse, didn't you wanna see how strong he is?" Benny chortled as the mechanical woman left with him in her arms.

"Indeed, but so long as this works."

Punching the ground with repeated curses of, "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Jack deactivated his Henshin, Illdos utterly silent. Her yellow lenses closed shut and Jack panicked as he held her in his hands. "No, no, no! Not like this, c'mon Illdos, you've seen too much and endured too much to just go out like this! Dammit! C'mon! Please, wake up!"

He ran off, clutching his partner to his chest, " _J-J-J-J-J-Jack."_ Her lenses slowly opened up, her synthesized voice coming out in a rapid stutter.

"I'm here, I'm here Illdos!" he reassured her, feeling a measure of relief as she talked, "Don't you dare die on me now Illdos, I can't lose you too."

" _S-s-s-systems critical, v-v-v-virus infecting m-m-m-most of my p-p-p-p-processing power. N-n-n-need you to f-f-find cure for i-i-i-i-it."_

"There's a cure?!" he asked, running forward to where he knew Arcee would be waiting and probably growing increasingly worried, if she wasn't already looking for him.

" _Y-y-y-y-yes. S-s-s-s-Shadestar h-h-h-had it. H-h-h-hid it a-a-a-away, l-l-l-location is a-a-a-at these c-c-c-coordinates."_ What had once been a rare cloudy day, threatened to burst into a rain fall, droplets surging down and pouring onto Jack's head, drenching it and making the normally upright hair fall flat over his face. The way the rain fell and dripped over Illdos lenses, simulated tears, " _J-J-J-Jack. I-I-I-I am s-s-s-s-sorry. B-b-because of me, y-y-y-you are i-i-in-"_

"Would you stop apologizing!? I may not have chosen to fight, but that jerk, Benny, he's right. I don't want to be just another guy. I want to show the world what I'm made of." He told her, running faster, trying to reach Arcee as fast as he could, "I…I've grown to enjoy fighting. I like putting my life on the line. I don't know why, but it brings a thrill to my heart." He saw the road up ahead, Arcee's motorbike and holographic rider circling the street until she turned and saw him dashing towards her, he wiped rain from his face, gritting his teeth sharply, "I wouldn't trade it for anything, not now at least."

He paused for breath, breathing in and out as Arcee got close by, "Jack!? What happened to you!? What's going on with Illdos?"

"Virus. That psychopath Benny Howard infected her with something, I-I don't know what." Jack gasped out, getting atop Arcee and putting on a spare helmet kept at her side, "So where is it located? The cure then?"

They were already in motion, Arcee well synchronized to her partner's thought process. If he was riding her, they needed to get somewhere. Jack followed the directions sent to him telepathically, his connection to Illdos allowing him to figure out where to go.

"Illdos, can we still fight?" he asked her, Arcee speeding up to attempt to reach it faster.

" _C-c-c-combat routines w-w-w-will b-b-b-be compromised. B-b-b-but our armored s-s-s-state will be u-u-u-u-usable._ "

"Then let's do it. Arcee we're counting on you, Illdos will back me up, we've got to get to the cure. We've got a minute to win this." Jack reattached Illdos to the belt, his arms forming an X.

"You sure about this Jack?" Arcee's cold tone belied her genuine concern and worry for her partner, he threw one hand up, the other placed in front of Illdos' lenses.

"When do I do things I'm not sure of? HENSHIN!" Kamen Rider Ittune gripped Arcee's handles, his lenses having turned to a faded amber color, rust was collecting and moving up from his hand, but he was still going strong.

A minute to win it. He wouldn't let anyone close to him ever die. Not on his watch.

From her perch on a rooftop, the Nurse observed them go, "So, baby girl, what say you, me, a nice little dinner under the moon to celebrate?" Benny was back to his human self, smirking as he observed her rear shamelessly. Perhaps he was really insane from what they did to him or had been born weird, but he liked what he saw, "And please, tell me I can call you something other than Nurse."

"Nurse is my function, name, and purpose. As for dinner, it is not needed. You are to do your job and I am to do mine." She replied mechanically, causing Benny to smirk.

"You know I'll just try harder to make you think and say nice things about me, right?" he retorted playful like any flirty boyfriend would with their girlfriend. "Wouldn't it be better to go through the easiest route and give me a chance?"

"I heard motivation moves you humans, so prove yourself." She said and walked away, swaying her hips.

Benny smirked, "I'm not sure if she's into me or using me, but hey, I get to fight Jackie-boy some more." As he said that, he looked at the bike speeding off into the distance, "So, cure, bike robo-babe, and that bitch I got for Nurse to play with. I'd say I earned a proper compliment."

"Benny." He turned to see her eyeball focusing on him, "I shall aid you in case the Cybertronian proves a danger to your mission. Please, take care of me and yourself."

"Can I get a kiss?"

"I don't have lips."

"Worth a shot."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Heyo! This is the Lord Of Pages here, telling you to be patient for Life is Cosmic. I wanted to get this chapter out while school's been kicking my ass and a lot of changes came the way of my big bro and me. I've been studying to get my drivers license, and been busy with the last few bits of college before I head off to university. I was having trouble writing this chapter, which is why it took so long to do, thousand apologies. I promise that Life is Cosmic chapter sixteen will come out before the end of the month, so please hold out a little more! Sorry for the long wait there too, been extremely busy with school, the family, and seeing my classes through to their end.

Here's to many more years of writing fanfiction, no matter how old I get, I'll always have time to spare with writing for you guys. So take some hope in that! Until then, this is the Lord of Pages, off to record another chapter!

 **The Swordslinger:** I had a big hand on Benny's design, personality, and motivations for The Lord Of Pages to actually get his big fat ass moving for once. He wanted a Dark Rider, the Rival Rider, to make this story flow. Also, we just wanted to have fun making someone an unapologetic asshole.


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